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FROM A DRAWING BY G. W. PICKNELL

COLLISION WITH THE ICEBERG.

The last cruise
of the MIRANDA
A .RECORD OF ARCTIC ADVENTURE

BY
HENRY COLLINS WALSH
WITH CONTBIBUTIONS FBOM
Pbof. Wm. H. Bbeweb, of Yale ; Pkoe. G. Fbedeeick Weight, of Oberlin ; James D.
Dewell, Hon. Geoege W. Gaednee, Peof. B. 0. Jillson, De. F. a. Cook,
Capt. Geo. W. Dixon, Eddolf Keesting, De. E. 0. Stebbins,
Maynaed Ladd, Abthue E. Thompson, Russell W.
Poetee, Cabltle Gaeeison, L. J. W. Joyneb,
Samuel Oeth, and Chas. B. Cakpentee.

Profusely Illustrated from Photographs taken on the Trip.

MDCCCXCVI
THE TRANSATLANTIC PUBLISHING COMPANY
NEW YORK
63 Fifth Avenue
LONDON
26 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden

Copyright 1895
BY
JAMES D. DEWELL

v»

CONTENTS.

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
Henry Collins Walsh . '.)
Captain Dixon's Log 135
Atmospheric Dust in the Arctic Regions. Professor William
H. Brewer ... 148
Glacial Observations in Labrador and Southern Green
land. Professor G. Frederick Wright 162
Thk Geeenlanders. Frederick A. Cook, M.D. 172
A Greenland Cemetery. James D. Dewell 180
The Eskimos' Teeth, and Other Notes. R. O. Stebbins, D.D.S. 186
The Flora of South Greenland. Samuel P. Orth 100
Note on the Insects of Sukkertoppen. L. J. W. Joynei- 194
The Finding of the Rigel. Russell W. Porter 196
The Trip to Holsteinborg. Maynard Ladd 203
Icebergs. Arthur R. Thompson 208
A Greenland Sunday. Charles Blake Carpenter 210
Oue Adventures at Sukkertoppen. Carlvle Garrison 215
The Illustrations. Rudolf Kersting 218
A Letter from Hon. George W. Gardner 222
A Letter from Professor B. C. Jillson . . . 225
The Arctic Club  229

DEDICATED to
COMRADES ON THE MIRANDA AND THE RIGEL

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

CHAPTER I,

It is a comparatively
easy matter to organize an
Arctic expedition in the
city of New York, but it
is quite another thing to
get the expedition well
into the Arctic regions
and bring it safely home
again. This requires a
happy combination of cir-
cumstances, which the
uninitiated are not apt~to~take into consideration. There was
probably not an individual who had joined "Dr. Cook's
Arctic Expedition of 1894" who for a moment doubted that
the expedition would really be in Melville Bay on the
scheduled time, and a connection with Lieutenant Peary and
his party was looked upon as a matter of course. But, as
Robbie Burns aptly puts it :
" The best laid schemes o' mice and men
Gang aft agley."
Quite a number of mice, as well, indeed, as their larger
cousins the rats, had laid their plans to accompany the expe
dition; though to the credit of some, be it said, that with wise
forethought they deserted the ship on the very day of sailing,

10

THE LAST CKUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

and thus brought fear and dire forebodings to the hearts of
superstitious sailors. But who then, except these wise rats,
dreamed that a single solitary iceberg among the almost
countless numbers that would be passed on the way would
wilfully crash into the Miranda, and so delay matters by the
damage inflicted as to force the expedition to give up its cher
ished plan of piercing into really far northern latitudes ; or
again, who among the human beings dreamed that the ship
would ultimately come to grief upon some sunken rocks off
the bleak coast of Greenland, and thus end the expedition in
disaster ?
But this, as
Mr. Kipling
says, is an
other story,
or rather
one to be
told later on.
At the
start it may
be well to
state briefly
the objects
of the ex
pedition, which, though they were not accomplished, except in
part, still made up a very attractive prospectus. The
main objects were : To study the Greenland glacier system,
the inland ice -cap, the glaciers and icebergs; to map out
and explore a part of the unknown coast of Melville Bay,
and to photograph, sketch, and study the Eskimos, and the
animal and vegetable life to be found in the northern
regions. The Peary camp was to be visited, and the latest news con
cerning that expedition was to be brought back to the United

THE MIRANDA.

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

11

States in advance of the Peary party. A search was to be
undertaken for the young Swedish explorers, Bjorling and
Kallestenius, who had boldly skoaled to the northward in a
crazy kind of a tub, and passed into the great Arctic silences,
never to be heard
of again. During
this search a part
of the unknown
coast of Elles-
mere Land was
to be explored.
Then the great
game to be found
in the Arctic re-
g i o n s , such as
polar bear, wal
rus, reindeer,
seal, caribou, etc.,
attracted quite a
number of sports
men to the ex
pedition, among
them such well-
known hunters as
Professor L. L.
Dyche, of the Kansas State University, whose Western
hunting experiences are related in " Camp Fires of a Natural
ist;'5 E. A. Mcllhenny, and Robert D. Perry.
The officers of the expedition were : Dr. Frederick A.
Cook, commander and organizer of the expedition; Professor
William H. Brewer, of Yale ; Professor G. Frederick Wright,
of Oberlin College, and Professor B. C. Jillson, of Pittsburg,
geologists ; Professor L. L. Dyche, Kansas State University,
zoologist ; E. A. Mcllhenny, of Louisiana, ornithologist ;

DR. FREDERICK A. COOK.

12 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
Samuel P. Orth and B. F. Staunton, of Oberlin, botanists ;
Professor Elias P. Lyon, of Harvard School, Chicago, biolo
gist ; Dr. Jules F. Valle, of St. Louis, and Dr. R. M. Cramer,
of New York, surgeons ; Professor L. J. Joyner, of Pough-
keepsie, entomologist ; Russell W. Porter, of Boston, and
Robert DeP. Tytus, of New Haven, surveyors ; H. C. Walsh,
of New York, historian. Rudolf Kersting, of New York, was
the official photographer, and Charles K. Reed, of Worcester,
Mass., and J. A. Travis, of New i'ork, were the taxidermists.
Other members of the expedition were James D. Dewell,
of New Haven ; Hon. George W. Gardner, ex- Mayor of
Cleveland, Ohio; Ashley C. Clover, ex- Prosecuting Attorney
of St. Louis ; G. W. W. Dove and A. A. Freeman, of
Andover, Mass. ; Willis A. Reeve, of Patchogue, L. I.;
William Bryce, Jr., of New York ; Maynard Ladd, John R.
Fordyce, H. D. Cleveland, Frederick P. Gay, of Harvard
College ; C. P. Lineaweaver, T. J. Lineaweaver, A. B. Brown,
H. W. Dunning, Philip Evans, C. J. Rumrill, A. P. Rogers,
A. R. Thompson, of Yale College ; R. D. Perry, of Phillips-
ton, Mass.; S. G. Tenney, of Williamstown, Mass. ; Chas. B.
Carpenter, of New York ; Professor Charles E. Hite, Univer
sity of Pennsylvania ; G. M. Coates, G. H. Perkins, Howard
Bucknell, of Philadelphia ; R. 0. Stebbins, of New York ;
W. H. H. Armstrong, of Newburg- on -Hudson ; William J.
Littell, of Washington, D. C. ; Benjamin Hoppin and A. A.
Sutherland, of Baddeck, C. B. ; J. A. Travis, Jr., of New
York ; Walter S. Root, of Cleveland ; F. B. Wright, of Ober
lin ; Carlyle Garrison, of Merchantville, N. J.
Carl Garrison, the last mentioned, was by far the youngest
member of the expedition— a boy of but thirteen years of age.
As his parents are old friends of mine, he went "along under
my care, and I had every reason to be proud of my young
charge. Through all our various trials, dangers, and rough
experiences he showed a courage and discretion far beyond

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

13

his years, and accepted all manner of hardships with
cheerfulness and with calm philosophy. He was dubbed
the "Mascot." Who the more powerful spirit of evil
in the shape of a Jonah was, has not yet been finally
determined. Perhaps the real Jonah was the Miranda herself, if a
Jonah can be of
the feminine
gender. Certain
ly the name itself
is suggestive of
hidden reefs and
tempests, and the
vessel's previous
history had been
decidedly unfor
tunate. She was
built for the Red
Cross Line, in
Liverpool, Eng
land, in 1884,
and had hardly
been put into ser-
vice between
New York, Hali-
fax, and St.
Johns when she
ran on rocks off
Point Judith.
Later she struck
on rocks in Hell
Gate and sank,
but was raised at considerable cost. She collided with
an iron steamer, and later with a schooner, and it was she

CAPTAIN WILLIAM J. FARRELL.

14

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

who towed Leary's raft from Nova Scotia in 1887. The raft
pulled the fastenings out of the Miranda, went to pieces, and
became a serious disturber of traffic. She lost her good
name and passenger trade after these accidents, and was
finally rented
out as a frieght
steamer, run
ning between
Ne w York,
Jamaica, and
Central Ameri
ca. Is it any
wonder that,
with such a sin
gular penchant
for rocks and
collisions, she
should finally
have come to
grief upon a
sunken reef off
the coast of
Greenland?
The captain of
the Miranda
was William
J. Farrell, and the first officer, George Manuel.
The expedition started from Pier 6, North River, New
York, on the afternoon of July 7. This was several days
later than had been expected, but the Miranda had been
tardy in a voyage from Central America. Of course, quite a
crowd of people had collected about the pier, friends and
relatives of the passengers, and a number of others were there
out of curiosity to have a look at the vessel and its occupants.

OUR ESKIMO FRIENDS

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 15
A party of four Eskimos, consisting of a father and his two
daughters and a youth, who were being taken back to their
homes after assisting in the spectacular effects of a lecture
tour, came in for a great share of attention, and submit
ted patiently to unceasing cross - examinations, for they
had learned to speak English fluently, perhaps to their
regret. At length the signxl was given for all to go on shore who
were not going with the expedition, and the pause that came
before the actual start gave a stout man on the wharf an op
portunity to let off a few mild jokes at our expense. He per
sisted in looking upon the expedition from a humorous stand
point, and was aided and abetted in his point of view by a
Fourth of July jag which had not yet entirely deserted him.
" What in the name of Hades do you want to go to the North
Pole for anyway," he shouted, " when ice is only two dollars
a ton in New York?" Little did he know how dearly ice
would cost us off the coast of Labrador later on. But when
the start was actually made, and the Miranda, instead of
backing out, as was intended, headed directly for the dock,
hitting against two or three smaller craft on her way, his de
light knew no bounds. " Are you going to hunt polar bear
in Wall Street ? " he shouted in high glee. Something un-
looked for had happened. The signal wires going into the
engineer's room, which had just been renewed, had been un
accountably crossed, and the engineer had thus received the
reverse signal from the one intended. However, after threat
ening to entirely demolish some smaller craft, and after a great
deal of bellowing and shouting, and not a little swearing,
matters were rectified, and the Miranda backed out, swung,
and started on her career, amid cheers and wavings and con
fused shoutings of farewell from the shore.
We steamed through Long Island Sound, and outside
of Nantucket. The usual course is through Vineyard Sound,

16

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

but an accident to our compass caused the captain to change
the course.
The first days out were not crowded with incident, as is
but natural on the ocean. The air was so balmy and the
water so smooth that there was but little seasickness, though
here and there men were stretched on steamer-chairs look
ing with jaun
diced eyes upon
the wrinkled sea.
Most of the
huntsmen, with a
restless energy,
kept up for sev
eral days a con-
tinual rifle
practice, and
shot at any shin
ing mark that
offered. Our
deck, bristling
with polished
gun - barrels, re
sembled that of
a pirate ship.
On July 9
several whales ap
peared and broke
the monotony of
the watery ex
panse. Many of
them rose so close
to the ship as
to become targets for the sharpshooters, and a chorus of
volleys saluted their advent, seemingly to the satisfaction

HENRY COLLINS WALSH

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 17
of both parties concerned ; for the whales spouted and
dipped in answer to the salutes accorded them, and seemed
not a whit the worse for the broadsides poured into them. In
the afternoon a large swordfish almost ran into us, and also
went on his way rejoicing, after receiving a baptism of fire.
The next day, Sunday, broke clear, calm, and beautiful,
with hardly a ripple on the surface of the sea. The day
passed without an important event, except that a small and
select band of stokers and firemen seized the occasion to break
into the wine-room, where they remained to scoff while others
prayed, with the result that a free fight was indulged in,
shortly after which one of the firemen disappeared. All sorts
of rumors spread regarding the missing man, and it was gen
erally believed that he had jumped overboard as a result of
a drunken frenzy. He was several days afterwards dis
covered hiding in the hold, and deserted the ship promptly
on our arrival at Sydney.
The next morning we were off the coast of Nova Scotia,
and it was cold, foggy, and dismal. Our whistle was kept
constantly blowing, and many soundings were taken. The
gloom of the fog seemed to hang even over the breakfast-
table until it was lifted by the genial Professor Brewer, of
Yale. The Professor was the autocrat of the breakfast-table,
and many a word of wit and wisdom fell with unconscious ease
from his lips ; — one of those rare men upon whom learning
sits easily and gracefully, without weighing down in the
least upon a delicate and keen sense of humor. To him we
were indebted for much useful information upon all man
ner of subjects, as well as many a hearty laugh. On this
occasion the laughter was raised unconsciously; but the story is
too good to be left untold. The Professor sat at the head of the
table holding an egg up to the light and eyeing it curiously.
" See," he said to a professor next to him, " the wonderful
provision of Nature in mending eggs," and he dilated at some

18

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

length upon this provision, and passed the egg to let his
brother professor inspect the shell, beneath an aperture of
which another shell had apparently formed. " I have had a
varied experience with hard-boiled eggs," said the Professor's
brother in arms, " but this is certainly the hardest' egg that
I have ever seen," and he hit the egg a crack with his knife,

GROUP OF PROFESSORS.

but the knife rebounded. Professor Brewer then took the egg
in hand again, and struck it a resounding thump with a heavy
plated spoon. " Why, by Jolly," he exclaimed, "it's a china
egg ! " And then the inextinguishable laughter of the gods
arose ; but notwithstanding, the Professor finished his lecture
upon Nature's method of mending eggs. It is needless to say

NORTH SYDNEY— CAPE BRETON ISLAND.

20 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
that in spite of the vigorous thumps it had received the par
ticular egg in question needed no mending. Had it ever been
hatched, a Shanghai rooster, perhaps, would have been the
natural result.
<c How well this crowd seems to get along," remarked a
man opposite me at table, " in spite of the fact that before
leaving New York scarcely one man in the crowd knew
another." "Well," said an Englishman upon my right, with the
slow deliberation of his race and the air of a man who had
given the subject careful consideration — "well, but we are a
very superior crowd, you know." There was no dissent from
this opinion.
Late in the afternoon of July 11, we steamed into the beau-
ful harbor of Sydney, one of the finest harbors in the world.
A ray of the light that never was on land or sea seemed to
have broken from the unknown void to shed its glory on land
and sea and sky. On either hand the dual town of Sydney
stood bathed in the dying light, and out in the harbor, sud
denly, as if by magic, a gleaming French man-o'-war loomed
into sight, "clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful."
It was evening when we ran alongside of a wharf at North
Sydney ; for we had to take in a supply of coal here, as well
as live stock and provisions. A speedy outpouring there was,
as everybody was delighted to get a chance to stretch his legs,
and North Sydney was quickly overrun by what looked like a
band of pirates, for every one rushed on shore in sea-clothes.
It did not take the crowd long to discover a restaurant,
and soon there gathered here a festive throng who managed
to sing and eat at the same time ; next to the dining-
room was a sitting - room furnished with a melodeon, which
was kept in constant service by some musical members
of the company. Suddenly there passed by the windows a
band of the Salvation Army, and then there was a general

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 21
rush. Grave professors, students, and sportsmen all joined
in a grand triumphal march in the wake of the Salvationists,
and lifted up their voices in a hymn to the tune of "March
ing through Georgia." It was an extraordinary procession as
it passed along the main street chanting to the accompaniment
of a most vigorous and well-meaning, if erratic, band. Never
before, perhaps, had this section of the Army of the Lord
gathered in so many stray sheep.
I shall never forget the look of joy upon the face of an old
salt who marched at the head of the procession beating a
bass-drum with a nervous energy, as if he were thumping the
very devil himself. At length a little, low meeting-house was
reached, and when we had filed in and taken our seats the
usual singing and clapping- was gone through with. Pale,
nervous -looking women, clad in the ungainly uniform of the
Salvationists, with a wild, fanatical look in their eyes, hopped
up and down on the stage, clapping their hands and chanting.
Then came an address from the captain of the band, a strange
hotch-potch, interspersed with many " glories " and "aniens."
He pictured the glories of the hereafter for the faithful sol
diers of the Lordj and the eyes of the pale women gleamed
with the light of hope and anticipation. " If there is joy in
heaven," said the captain, raising his voice, " over one sinner
doing repentance, what must be the joy in heaven when a
soldier of the Salvation Army enters into the pearly gates ? I
can picture myself after death ascending upward, and a voice
saying to me, ' Who comes here ?' and when I answer, 'Jim
Watson is coming,' oh, I can hear the echoes ringing through
heaven — 'Jim Watson is coming, Jim Watson is coming!'
Oh, I tell you, friends, there will be exceeding joy in heaven
upon that day !" And so he went on in his simple egotism.
Indeed, I hope that Mr. Jim Watson's reception in heaven
will be more enthusiastic than the one he was accorded by his
hearers ; for the natives of Sydney did not appear to respond

22 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
heartily to the enthusiasm of the Salvationists. In fact, the
people of Sydney seem to have made up their minds about
this life and the next one, and perhaps they prefer to solve
both of these problems by the lights that have already been
given them.
There was another subject upon which the inhabitants of
Sydney seemed to have made up their minds, and that was
that we were a band of rash' and foolhardy men, doomed
to certain destruction. An iron ship, they declared, was not
fit to make the voyage to the Arctic regions; it would be
smashed by the ice. We smiled at such prophecies then, but
later on we took them more seriously. One ancient oracle, a
prophet of wind and wave and ice, who appeared to have
honor even in his own country, was appealed to for his
opinion. After the manner of many another oracle, he shook
his head, gave a significant look, and said solemnly that he
did not like to express his opinion in our presence. Had he
doomed us to certain death he could not have thrown a
deeper gloom upon the assembled company.
From North Sydney to Sydney proper is a pleasant half-
hour's ride by ferry. At Sydney is a fine summer hotel, which
had just been completed at the time of our visit. It is run
by a Bostonian, Colonel Brownell Granger. Indeed, Boston
capital seems to be doing a good deal for the development of
Cape Breton. A party of four of us drove out to some rich
copper-mines in the vicinity — a fine drive through a rolling
and beautiful country — and were taken about the mines by the
manager, Mr. Isaac P. Gragg, also from Boston. The mines
are operated by a Boston firm, the Eastern Development
Company. We were allowed to inspect them thoroughly, and
descended the shaft, in the bucket the miners go down in, to
the depth of six hundred feet. It was, of course, as black as
pitch soon after we left the mouth of the shaft; but we
each held a candle in one hand, and held on to the chain of

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 23
the bucket with the other. We wexe rigged out in oilskin
suits before descending, in order to preserve our clothes from
contact with the slimy sides of the tunnels, and resembled a
religious procession as we slowly walked on a narrow rail along
the winding slippery tunnels, holding the lighted tapers before
us. When we had been carefully hoisted to the welcome day
light again, and after we had removed our oilskins and
washed the oozy copper slime from our hands, we adjourned to
the country residence of the genial host of the Sydney Hotel,
who was giving a lunch that, day to a party of mining en
gineers and the lady members of their families. We had
a delightful lunch, and were most agreeably and hospitably
entertained. As we were seated on the broad veranda enjoy
ing some of Colonel Granger's choice cigars, a Scotch bag
piper chanced along, with a company of two young men, an
elderly woman, and a very venerable and silver-haired dame.
It was a veritable pied piper who had appeared among us, and
he soon had his little company dancing a unique and vigor
ous Scotch breakdown. The very old dame, in particular
danced with remarkable vigor, and displayed unlooked - for
agility and friskiness.
" And the gray grand-sire skilled in gestic lore
Hath skipped beneath the burden of four score.''
It was wonderful to behold this venerable girl skipping with
graceful agility beneath her burden of fourscore. I am some
what her junior, but I should not have liked to have en
gaged to dance her down. She was apparently as fresh after
the dance as at the beginning of it, though she must have
tramped a good distance that day, for we were many miles
from town. We took a picture of the scene ; but this, together
with by far the greater number of photographs that were
taken on the expedition, is with the Miranda at the bottom
of the sea.

24 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
Sydney is a very attractive place, with green sloping
banks that run down to meet the still waters of a beautiful
cove — -waters so deep that the largest vessels can anchor within
a few yards of the shore ; and here British and French war
ships are to be seen during the summer. Now that the town
possesses a commodious hotel, furnished with every modern
convenience, it must become a popular resort for sportsmen
and tourists. There are plenty of salmon and trout in the
adjacent streams, as well as fine salt-water fishing ; then, as
regards hunting, there are partridge, snipe, woodcock, curlew,
and plover to be found in abundance, while within a day's
journey are the magnificent hunting-grounds of the North
Cape. Here is an immense tract covered with primeval woods,
where bear, moose, and caribou wander about at will. The
interior of these forests has never been fully explored, and
but rarely echoes to the crack of the huntsman's rifle.
The people of Cape Breton Island are mainly of Scotch
descent, and mining and fishing are their chief industries.
The island is completely seamed with veins of coal, and the
enormous mines at North Sydney run far out under the sea.
These mines are also owned by an American syndicate. About
a mile from North Sydney live a tribe of Mic-Mac Indians,
who support themselves by making baskets and other utensils
and trinkets. They are entirely independent, and are fairly
intelligent. The chiefs and sages of the tribe dwell in little
houses, and the others content themselves with wigwams.
We took in a supply of coal, some provisions, and live
stock, at North Sydney, and then went gayly on our way,
feeling that we had sufficient resources to take us up to the
North Pole and back again if need be. It had been the
original intention to go from Sydney through the straits of
Belle Isle ; but so much ice was reported that Captain Farrell
made his course around Newfoundland instead. On the morn
ing of Sunday, July 15, the forbidding and frowning coast of

MATE MANUEL AND PILOT DUMPHY.

26 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
Newfoundland loomed up before us through a fog. As one
of our compasses needed repairing it was decided to run into
the capital city, St. Johns, in order to have the necessary
adjustments made. The city is snugly hidden in a beautiful
harbor behind high hills, and is a sudden revelation after
entering the narrow channel that flows into the harbor. At
the mouth of this channel we beheld our first iceberg — a very
small affair when compared with the countless numbers that
appeared to us later ; but as it was the first one, and as we had
not then formed standards of comparison, the baby berg cre
ated much excitement, if not enthusiasm.
We remained at St. Johns long enough for the party to
land and stretch their legs for a few hours. The city pre
sents a fine appearance from the harbor, but it has not yet
recovered from the terrible fire which swept it in 1892, and
whose devastations are only too apparent when a landing has
been effected. A great many ruins are to be seen, especially
of public buildings which were swept away ; temporary and
unsightly small wooden structures have been erected until
better ones come in course of time ; for St. Johns has not
risen out of its ashes with the rapidity of Chicago and Boston ;
the mills of God grind slowly there, and the rapidity of Yankee
methods is unknown.
At St. Johns, though we were there but a few hours, we
were greeted again with all sorts of dire prophecies concern
ing our folly in venturing northward in an iron ship. It was,
therefore, a considerable relief to all on board when Dr. Cook
returned from a pilgrimage to the shore, bringing with him a
veteran ice-pilot in the person of Mr. Patrick Dumphy, who
had been mate of the Kite on Peary's first expedition in
search of the Pole, and who was looked upon as a standard
authority on Arctic navigation. Mr. Dumphy's services had
been secured as ice-pilot, and he proved to be an oracle, some
thing upon the pattern of the famous Jack Bunsby, guide,

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 27
philosopher, and friend to our old friend Captain Cuttle.
Mr. Dumphy's oracular manner, and the significant nods
that accompanied his Delphic utterances, seemed to restore
complete confidence to the hearts of the timid ones, and so in
high feather and with large hopes we steamed out of the now
moonlit harbor, out into the open sea.
During the afternoon I had seized the occasion to call upon
our consul at St. Johns, Mr. Molloy, whom I found to be a very
agreeable gentleman. He has been stationed at his present
post for over twenty years, and has served longer than any
other American consul. He had known all the Arctic
explorers for the past quarter of a century, and had many in
teresting personal recollections. He told me that the famous
explorer Hall, who at one time was supposed to have been
poisoned by some of his crew, really died of eating too much
cake. He was inordinately fond of cake, and ate three pounds
of a rich compound one night — a feat that put a sudden end
to his explorations.
As I was returning to the ship after my visit I was joined
by a member of the Newfoundland Parliament, McGrath
(pronounced McGraw) by name — a jovial, hearty -looking
man, who came on board and entered into conversation at
once with a party gathered there. When we explained our
intention of entering Melville Bay he looked both surprised
and amused. " Well, well," he remarked, " any one who
would go to the Arctic regions for amusement would go to
Sheol for recreation/' Extremes sometimes meet, but though
we came near it, perhaps, we did not finally find the Arctic
regions a gateway to that eternally warm welcome we are told
awaits the unregenerate.
Upon invitation I accompanied my new-found friend on
shore again, and we spent some time in discussing the peculiar
state of Newfoundland politics over an excellent bottle of
port wine. Then we strolled through the main thoroughfare

28 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
of St. Johns. A pretty girl in a pony-chaise drove by, and
smiled upon us beamingly. My friend, who was deep in
politics, did not observe; but I raised my hat and bowed.
Then the M. P. looked at the retreating chaise, and eyed me
inquiringly. "lama worshipper of beauty," I explained ; " I
always bow to a pretty girl."
" Urn," said he, "that was my wife."
On July 16, the day after leaving St. Johns, we passed a
seemingly unending procession of icebergs, of all sizes and
shapes. These at times assume most beautiful forms, and
seem to build themselves better than they know. In par
ticular, I shall never forget the striking beauty of one huge
mass of ice that slowly passed us. In shape it resembled the
ruins of some vast and magnificent cathedral, and a stately
and perfect tower rose from the ruins and glinted and gleamed
in the sun. It seemed as if some great Arctic Michael Angelo
mnst have spent his life in giving shape and beauty to so
grand a pile. The day was balmy and clear ; a blue Italian
sky hung above us, and it was a perfect delight to lie lazily in
steamer-chairs upon the deck and with half-closed eyes dream
ily watch the gleaming ghostly procession go by. One of
our party counted one hundred and fifty icebergs that day.
The summer of 1894 was especially prolific in icebergs.
Wherever we touched in northern latitudes we were told that
never had there been seen, within the memory of the oldest
inhabitants, such vast quantities of ice. It is now generally
understood by those who have studied far northern conditions
that an unusually early prevalence of icebergs in low latitudes
indicates a preceding hard winter in Arctic circles, and that
the region of the northern ice-cap is particularly dangerous.
Our own experiences, and the disasters that overtook Wellman
and Jackson during the summer of 1894, all go to confirm
this theory.
An iceberg at a convenient distance is a magnificent sight ;

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 29
it is a thing of beauty that adds a real charm to the monotonous
expanse of the sea ; but distance lends enchantment to the
view, as we discovered on the following morning.
It was foggy now, very foggy, and we were bowling along
at a speed of about seven knots, on the morning of July 17.
It was after breakfast, anda quarter after eight o'clock. I was
standing on deck talking to Dr. Cook and Mr. Kersting, when
suddenly the signal to reverse the engine was given. Simul
taneously we looked forward, and through the dense fog there
loomed an immense mass of ice directly ahead. It was too
large a berg to give us time to clear it ; there was nothing to
be done but to strike it full and square. My eyes were
fixed upon that great pile of ice with a strange fascination ;
there was hardly time to think or to have the feeling of
fear communicated to the brain before, with a great crash,
we struck the awful wall of ice before us. The iron prow of
the ship ran right into the berg fully seven feet, and the ice,
crumbling and breaking from the shock, fell in a great
shower upon the forward deck. The reverse action of the
propeller now began to draw us away from the berg, and the
Miranda backed and careened to one side ; there was a ter
rible moment of suspense, and then the vessel righted itself.
A cry arose to lower the boats, and many rushed to get them
in readiness. All this took less time than it takes to tell it.
I had last seen my young charge, Carl Garrison, in our cabin,
just forward of the dining-room, where he was engaged in
cleaning his rifle — a favorite pastime of his on dull days, and
one that brought to him dreams of the polar bear and the wal
rus that would fall by it later on. Naturally, I immediately
went below to hunt for him, and as I passed through the
dining-room I caught sight of Commodore Gardner coolly
finishing his breakfast, as if unaware of the terrific shock that
had made havoc with the plates and dishes. I caught sight
of other forms also, rushing about in wild confusion. Cap-

30

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

tain Farrell came flying down and ordered all hands on deck.
I passed quickly forward of the saloon to look for Carl, and
was greatly relieved to find that no water was leaking in.
Carl was not below, so I seized two overcoats from our cabin
and speedily made my way on deck again, where I found my
charge looking quite cool, as he had a right to look, being sur
rounded by a lot of
broken ice. Indeed,
there was no real
panic, and for a lot
of hitherto inex
perienced Arctic
explorers the party
as a whole certainly
behaved "re
markablywell. It
wasquickly

ascertained that notwithstanding the severity of the shock
the damage that had been done was not so serious as to
endanger the ship. This, of course, was a great relief to
every one on board ; for it would have been an inauspicious
day to have taken to the boats, on account of the very heavy
fog all around us. We had fortunately struck a projecting

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 31
portion of the berg above our water-line, so that the blow
came upon the upper starboard bow-plates ; three of these were
cracked or stove in, the hole running upward from about
fifteen feet above the water-line. It was a great piece of
luck that we did not strike the great mass of ice below the
water which forms by far the greater part of an iceberg, the
proportion of ice under the water to that above it being about
eight to one. It was the projecting ice above that saved us
from tearing out the bottom of the ship by striking the vast
mass below ; had we hit upon this, my readers would have
been spared this narrative.
As the Miranda steamed cautiously forward again we
passed close to the berg that had so nearly caused our ruin,
and it certainly was an awe-inspiring mass of ice — perhaps
a thousand feet in length and upward of two hundred feet
high. We could see the hole that we had made, smeared
as if with blood, from red paint about the prow of the
Miranda. Slowly the great berg disappeared into the fog,
which had somewhat lifted, and we were much relieved to
get out of its dangerous proximity. There were plenty more
of its companions, however, silently and slowly moving south
ward, so that a sharp lookout was kept as we went onward
toward Cape Charles harbor, on the Labrador coast, about
twenty-five miles away, and the nearest port to put in for re
pairs. A meeting of the passengers was called soon after
the collision, and it was decided to put in to Cape Charles for
repairs, and then continue on our journey. We reached
Cape Charles early in the afternoon ; but as we had a variety
of experiences and adventures before we again put out from
this port, it will be well to relate them in a succeeding
chapter.

CHAPTER II.

It was early in the afternoon of July
17 that we steamed slowly into the
harbor of Cape Charles, on the bleak
coast of Labrador. High barren hills
rose all around us, destitute of vegeta
tion for the most part, except that here
and there a kindly moss covered their
nakedness ; a few small houses of fisher
men perched on rocks constituted the
settlement. Not a very inviting shore,
but still it was not long before we were
upon it; for it was always a delight
1 to leave the cramped quarters on our
vessel and be able to stretch our legs with freedom. It
did not take us long to form the acquaintance of most
of the population of Cape Charles, because the population
consists only of a half-dozen families, augmented some
what in the fishing season by a few fishermen from
Newfoundland. In the winter time the people literally
take to the woods — that is, they retire into winter quarters
in some woods about nine miles away. Very simple, very
monotonous, and very dull is the life of a Labrador fisher
man. He fishes and he eats and he sleeps, and that tells
about the whole story. He is always in debt to the company
that runs the fisheries, and so he can sell his fish only to the
company, who take care to keep him in debt by charging him
very high prices for his few necessaries of life. I sat fre
quently by the fireside of one family in particular, by the
name of Pye, with whom I ingratiated myself by presenting

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

33

a few copies of old magazines, which I could see were highly
appreciated, for literature is very scarce at Cape Charles, and
these magazines will probably become family heirlooms.
From chatting with this family I learned that this is the modus
vivendi of the inhabitants of these regions : The men fish in
summer, of course, and in the fall they chop and saw wood, and

THE PYE FAMILY.
do odd jobs of various kinds in preparation for the rigors of the
winter ; in winter they mend nets and boats, and thus prepare
for summer, or the fishing season, for there is no spring worth
speaking of ; the ice blocks them until June. They hunt in
the winter also, and set their traps ; and this is their chief ex
citement, as also their chief means for procuring food. The
principal game consists of rabbits, ptarmigan, spruce par-

34 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
tridges, porcupine, and deer. The men build little cabins
about the deer-hunting grounds in the interior, and from them
they will start out in the very early morning and hunt all day
long, and tramp for forty or fifty miles over hills and gorges,
carrying with them but the scantiest supply of food. They
will sometimes remain in these cabins, and continue this sort
of a life, despite all kinds of inclement weather, for a month at
a time. Deer are not plentiful, and are hard to get, but the
porcupine is found in greater numbers and is easily killed.
The Canadian porcupine is an animal more or less peculiar to
this region. It comes out of its hiding-places in winter and is
easily tracked in the snow. Its food is the berry and the bark
of trees, which it gnaws in such a manner as to be easily recog
nized by the hunter. When overtaken on the ground it rolls
itself up in a ball and erects its spines for a defence ; when
pursued it shows great agility in taking to the tree-tops. The
lives of the women, as is generally the case everywhere, are more
monotonous and confined than those of the men. They stay at
home and cook, and make all the clothes and boots. These lat
ter are made of sealskin, and very good boots they are, too ; and
some of the women help in cleaning and preparing the fish,
which are salted away in the storehouses. Of course, they do
some fancy-work also. Is there a spot on the face of the
globe where the women do not do fancy-work in some form or
other ? It is one of the prerogatives and a universal habit of
the sex, and one deserving of every encouragement. Barren
as are the interiors of the little houses in Labrador, they are
still relieved by bits of color, which the women weave into
appropriate forms. Hassocs, watch-cases, pouches, and cush
ions are the main forms that fancy-work takes in Labrador.
The hassocs are a series of pockets made out of long strips of
cloth and prettily set off with ribbons and beadwork in a vari
ety of ways according to the taste of the maker. Of course,
in so sparsely settled and busy a place there can be little

CAPE CHARLES.

36 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
general intercourse or social amusements. A dance takes
place occasionally, and this is always a great event. We had
a dance during our stay, which was quite a unique affair ; but
the native ladies were shy of dancing with us, and our dances
were strange to them, so our mainstays were the two Eskimo
girls, Mary and Clara, who were quite equal to the occasion,
and enjoyed exceedingly being the belles of the ball. Our
orchestra was the old man Peter, the father of the girls, who
played the fiddle ; so it was mainly the Eskimos who kept the
ball rolling. We danced by the light of a few dim lanterns
in a little storehouse whose floor was so slippery with cod-
liver oil that we had to throw salt upon it to increase the
friction, and enable us to retain our equilibrium. All the
elite of Cape Charles attended, which added to the group of
wallflowers very materially, and encroached upon the dancing
space. It was a remarkable scene altogether, and our pho
tographer, Mr. Kersting, took an excellent flash-light picture
of it ; but, alas ! this, together with a vast number of other
photographs, many of them of scenes and places never before
seen by white men, went down with the unfortunate Miranda.
Of course, our vessel was an object of great interest to the
Cape Charles people : so large a steamer had never been
there before. We were as popular as a circus in the rural
districts of the United States, and the men brought their
wives and children over to look at the wonders of the ship,
and to see the sheep on board — natural curiosities which
were much admired and never before seen in that place.
One old fellow was very much struck with the ice-water
cooler ; he thought it the most remarkable piece of mechan
ism that he had ever seen, and never tired of standing by it
and watching people, as they drew a glass of water, with
open-mouthed admiration.
There was always quite a collection of small fishing craft
which kept in the neighborhood of the Miranda, in wait for

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 37
any fishing parties that might be going out. It was diffi
cult to know what to pay the fishermen for their services,
as the general medium of exchange throughout Labrador is
trade ; money is seldom used, and its relative value is but
dimly appreciated. As the natives do not know well the
value of their own money, American money caused great con
fusion among them ; they took it, but they could not dis
tinguish denominations — a one-dollar bill meant as much to
them as a ten.
Cod is the staple fish along the Labrador coast. They
can be hauled up almost anywhere, and though a mess of
fresh cod is by no means to be despised, still the catching
of them is not very fascinating sport. We do not care for
anything in life that is too easily acquired — and cod is so dead
easy ! However, the fishermen do not take this point of view —
the easier the fishing, and the more that come to their nets, the
merrier; and so cod is a very popular fish about Labrador.
Indeed, in the local vernacular, cod alone is fish, salmon
is salmon, herring is herring, and trout is trout ; but cod is
fish, and nothing else is called fish. Such is the devotion to
-cod at Cape Charles that the fishermen seem to swear by it,
for I often heard them mutter something that sounded very
much like " By Cod ! "
But there is plenty of other sport besides cod -fishing.
There is, I was informed, excellent duck-shooting all along
the coast in the spring and autumn. Eider-ducks abound,
as do guillemots, puffin, murres, and auks. These birds
collect by the thousands, and will keep the sportsman just as
busy as he pleases. In July, during our brief stay, we found
the guillemot particularly abundant, and quite a number of
these birds were bagged. It is a very pretty bird, a glossy
black, with carmine legs and beak, but rather hard to kill,
because it dives at the flash ; it is very quick and nimble,
and can swim a great distance under water. When hit, it

38 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
does not give up the ghost easily, but will, unless struck in a
vital part, dive, and often several charges will have to be
pumped into it before it can be captured. On the wing, it
flies rapidly, but low and straight. From behind a ledge in a
neighborhood where these birds congregate, one can get excel
lent wing-shooting. Later on, we came across numbers of
guillemot along the fiords of Greenland.
Once in a while in the winter a polar bear comes floating
down to Cape Charles, and is sure to be given a warm recep
tion. A splendid specimen kindly brought his skin down
with him and left it on the Labrador coast in the winter of
1894. The entire male population turned out to greet him,
and it was not long before poor bruin was overtaken, flounder
ing about helplessly in the snow, and he was easily induced
to part with his hide. Dr. Cook purchased the skin from one
of the fishermen, and it is now hanging up in the fore-cabin
of the Miranda, very safe from rats, but perhaps food for fishes.
Battle Harbor lies across the bay from Cape Charles, a dis
tance of five or six miles. I could never get a satisfactory
explanation of why it was called Battle Harbor, for several
old inhabitants whom I interviewed all had different stories
to tell, although they all agreed that a battle had been fought
there in very early times. Some said the battle was between
the English and Eskimos, others between the English and In
dians, and still others held that the battle was fought between
Indians and Eskimos. The settlement is a very important
place, viewed from the Labrador standpoint ; it contains
about fifty houses, and a mail steamer calls every fortnight
during the summer from St. Johns, Newfoundland. Like
most of the Labrador settlements, its population consists
principally of dogs. There are at least a dozen dogs to each
family, and one cannot enter a house without walking over a
number of them. Luckily, they are good-natured and kindly
disposed toward strangers, as are their masters. We made up

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 39
a small party and went over to Battle Harbor in a couple of
lifeboats, rowing past some very interesting stranded icebergs
on the way. With Dr. R. M. Cramer I subsequently rowed
under one of these bergs, and though we got an ice-cold
shower-bath from the constant drip overhead, we were well re
paid. There were numerous caverns opening a few feet above
the water, and into one of these we rowed. Its dome and sides
were of a gorgeous blue, and the ice beneath the wonderfully
clear water gleamed and glinted from below : it seemed like
the entrance to a fairy structure, and we almost looked for a

¦— — ¦

A STRANDED BERG.
mermaid to arise to guide us through the labyrinths of this
wonderful ice-palace.
At Battle Harbor we were hospitably entertained by the
agent of the owners of the fisheries, Mr. Hall, who introduced
us to a favorite Labrador drink made from a mixture of spruce-
beer and rum. Spruce-beer is a very popular drink in Labra
dor, and every well-regulated family keeps a supply on hand ;
rum is also popular, but rarer.
There is a neat little hospital in the place, supported
by the English Missions to the Deep Sea Fisheries; it

40

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

is under the charge of a bright -faced young English
nurse, who has a native assistant. A young doctor is sent
over during the summer season, but returns to England
for the winter. The brave young nurse stays all the
year round, notwithstanding the rigors of the winter season,
and acts the part of both nurse and doctor during the long
months when the ice has cut off all communication with the
outer world. A few of us greatly enjoyed an impromptu
afternoon tea gotten up for us by the nurse, in which the
doctor participated ; indeed, we were entertained by an angel
unawares, for some staunch hot buns and comfortable sand
wiches that we ate stood us in lieu of the dinner we expected
to have on the Miranda; for it was many hours before
we tasted food
again. This
was the reason :
When we start
ed on the return
trip the wind
was so strong,
and the waves

were running
so high, that we
decided to skirt
around some
islands and to
get back to the
ship by a much
longer but more
sheltered route.
"The longest way round is the shortest way home," says
an old saw ; but I have never known it to work. After
rowing for miles, with the waves dashing over us every
now and then, we found it impossible to make any headway

THE DESERT ISLAND.

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 41
against wind and tide in trying to round a point, and
were obliged to put in to shore upon a desert island — a
bleak and barren spot, offering but little shelter. We gathered
some scrubby underbrush, however, and stretched ourselves,
thoroughly tired out with our struggles with wind and wave
and oar, around the fire that we built. Spasmodic attempts
were made to keep up a cheerful conversation ; but as there
was nothing to eat or drink, and as most of us were pretty
well drenched, it would have taxed Mark Tapley himself to
have kept up an appearance of jollity. There was a sense of
desolateness about the place hard to describe, while the wind
moaned dismally over it.
" — A wind that shrills
Over a waste land, where no one comes,
Or has come since the making of the world."
The moon rose cold and clear, and looked down upon a
dejected and shivering group huddled around a flickering fire.
It was cold, very cold, and the wind still blew, and the great
waves dashed against the rocky shore. At length, some time
after midnight, there came a lull in the tempest, and we
gladly took to our boats again. It was a long, hard pull
against wind and tide ; but very beautiful seemed the barren,
rocky islands in the now bright moonlight, and the sky up
above was a wonder and a revelation, with the great northern
lights ever and anon streaming over it, then dimming and
dying, then flashing out again in long, shining clouds that lit
up earth and sky. It was three o'clock in the morning before
we reached our home on the rolling deep, and never did the
Miranda's lights seem more welcome to us than when they
gleamed over the waters in the gray dawn of that morning.
Later on that day, July 21, a communication from Captain
Farrell was read by Dr. Cook to the assembled members of
the expedition. This stated that it would be necessary to

42 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
return to St. Johns, Newfoundland, for more permanent
repairs. Temporary repairs had been completed, but as there
were no extra plates on board, nor any way of procuring such,
the engineers had cut a plate from the iron protection sur
rounding the forward hatch, between the upper and main
decks ; but as tools were lacking to cut this plate properly, it
so covered the hawser pipe as to render the starboard anchor
unavailable. Therefore, Captain Farrell deemed it unsafe to
proceed northward, and theie was nothing to be done but to
beat a retreat to St. Johns and remain there until satisfactory
repairs could be completed. This was very discouraging to
all ; but we had to bow to the inevitable.
Five of our party had already made up their minds to give
up the trip, and had started on a hunting jaunt toward the
interior of Labrador. These were the Messrs. C. P. and
T. J. Lineaweaver, and R. DeP. Tytus, of Yale College;
Walter S. Root, of Cleveland, Ohio, and S. G. Tenney, of Wil-
liamstown, Mass. The party camped in the Labrador woods
for seventeen days, and enjoyed excellent sport both with gun
and rod. They captured one bear and several lynxes, and
shot great quantities of grouse and other small game. One
of the party, Mr. Tytus, had quite an experience with a lynx.
He shot it and thought that it was dead, but on approaching
the supposed corpse the lynx suddenly sprang upon him and tore
his clothes to shreds before it received its final coup de grace.
On their return along the coast the party shot a number of
seal and guillemots. In the Labrador streams they found
trout and salmon, — trout exceedingly plentiful,— and caught
them in such quantities that, as one of the party said to me
on a chance meeting in New York, " We are afraid to talk in
figures— everybody would think we were simply telling fish
stories." One discomfort of the short summer season in Labrador
is the extraordinary variations of temperature. The party

A HUNTING PARTY.

44 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
had a thermometer with them, which would stand at per
haps below the freezing-point early in the morning, but by
high noon the mercury sometimes mounted upward of a hun
dred degrees in the sun. None of the party, however, suf
fered any ill effects. They enjoyed perfect health, and were
greatly pleased with their outing.
On the evening of July 21 Professor Hite and his party,
consisting of Messrs. Howard Bucknell, George M. Coates,
and G. H. Perkins, of Philadelphia, left the ship to start
upon their journey into the interior of Labrador. Professor
Hite's original intention had been to land in the neighbor
hood of RigOlette, but the iceberg incident caused him to
make a change of plan. As the small party of explorers
rowed away from the ship in two little skiffs, towing their
tents and provisions in tenders behind them, they were given
three rousing cheers.
The party made their way to Independent Harbor on the
regular mail-boat which runs during the summer from Cape
Charles. From there they secured passage in a small boat to
Separation Point, a narrow point of land separating the White
Bear from the Eagle River. Here a cache was made for pro
visions, and the party started to explore the White Bear
River. On the second day they came to a cataract sixty feet
in height. Mr. Bucknell had been taken quite ill, so a camp
was pitched at the foot of the falls, and he was left in
the care of Mr. Coates, while Professor Hite and Mr. Perkins
continued the exploration of the river, which they ascended a
distance of nearly two hundred miles from its mouth. The
river terminated in a chain of small lakes. Upon returning
to the camp Mr. Bucknell's condition had not improved, and
he was sent over to Cartwright, the most southern and eastern
Hudson Bay trading-post on the Labrador shore. The other
members of the party then continued the exploration of the
Eagle and Paradise rivers. On the banks of the Paradise

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 45
River they found an abundance of plants not noted in the
more mountainous districts, and they also came across a great
many species of water-birds. They procured a number of
seal along this river, and found abundance of trout. On the
north side of Sandwich Bay, on a mountain nineteen hundred
feet in height, quite a number of caribou were seen, and some
of them secured. The party obtained in all thirty-nine species
of mammals and seventy-seven species of birds, all of which,
with the exception of two, are listed by Professor Packard in
his work " The Labrador Coast." Mr. Coates made a large
collection of plants, and five species of butterflies not men
tioned by Professor Packard were procured. The party left
Cartwright on September 14 for Pilley's Island, off the New
foundland coast, and there caught the steamer Sylvia for
New York, where they arrived on September 30, very nearly
three months from the date of the start.
The party of Eskimos also left us to take the mail steamer
at Battle Harbor and go onward to Rigolette; and still another
party silently stole away in the small hours of the morning.
This was composed of Robert D. Perry, of Phillipston, Mass. ;
William Bryce, Jr., of New York, and Dr. Willis A. Reeve,
of Patchogue, L. I. These three men suddenly made up
their minds that night to take the bird in the hand, and
make sure of some hunting in Labrador, rather than take
the risk of being dry-docked in St. Johns. They pushed
their way onward toward Rigolette, enjoyed some excellent
sport in this vicinity, and got safely back to New York
somewhat in advance of the party they had left behind.
A heavy fog had closed about the Miranda, but early in
the morning of the 22d it lifted sufficiently to enable the ship
to start on its retreat to St. Johns. All day long, however,
progress was very slow; for the fog descended again like a
curtain, and now and then the ghostly shapes of huge ice
bergs could be dimly discerned. The passengers made up a

46

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

watch among themselves that night to supplement the regu
lar watch. It fell to my lot to watch from two till three in
the morning. This was one of the longest hours I ever spent,
on account of the dull monotony of straining the eyes to
seaward and seeing nothing ; not an iceberg loomed in sight.

ICEBERG.

Once, when the fog had lifted a trifle, some commotion
was excited by the sailor who was on watch with me singing
out: "A light on the starboard bow!" Immediately the
fog-whistle was set to blowing, and Mr. Dumphy, the ice-
pilot, came rushing forward. "Where's the light?" said he.
*'Over there," said the sailor, "Humph !" said Pilot Dum-

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

47

phy, after gazing intently for a minute or so, "that's nothing
but a star," and he went back to his perch by the wheel-
house much disgruntled.
Later in the day the fog lifted entirely, and we were
enabled to proceed at full speed. We passed many icebergs
on the way, and by midnight we were once more anchored
safe and sound in the landlocked harbor of St. Johns.

&%2&^St*l"vz***.- ~*

-¦*¦

CHAPTER III.

It seemed like an old story
to be back at St. Johns again,
for though we had stopped
there but a few hours when
going to the northward, yet
both harbor and city are apt
to impress themselves upon
one at a glance and to remain
fixed in one's memory. Of course, our second arrival created
no little excitement, especially after the news of the collision
with the iceberg had circulated through the town, and the
prophets gathered about us and reminded us of their warnings.
The realization of a dire prophecy is the greatest happiness that
can come to the heart of a prophet, and so our return brought
exceeding great joy to several of the local seers.
As we knew that we were in for a stay of several days, we
proceeded to enjoy ourselves as much as possible, and were
aided and abetted in these efforts by a number of the kind
and hospitable citizens of St. Johns. The doors of the City
Club — the principal social club — were thrown open to us, and
this became a headquarters and general meeting-place for the
members of the expedition. Here were fine, large reading-
rooms, in which we found all the leading American magazines
and papers, a beautiful billiard-room, and an excellent cafe.
Those only who have been cooped up in the narrow confines
of a ship can appreciate the comfort that such a club can
bring. St. Johns is a capital place to spend the midsummer in.
It is cool and pleasant, and has charming surroundings.

*HE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

49

Within its confines is a fine sheet of fresh water ; Quidi Vidi
Lake it is called, or rather it is spelled that way, and com
monly called Kitty Viddy. The lake is admirably adapted
for aquatic sports, and here annual regattas take place in the
month of August, and are, I am told, very exciting affairs,
attended by the entire population.

ON THE ROAD TO TOPSAIL.

About a dozen miles from St. Johns is one of the most
charming resorts that it has ever been my good fortune to
visit. It is known as Topsail Beach. There are no large
hotels there — in fact, no hotels at all, but only several small but
neat and pretty inns, or boarding-houses ; for Topsail yet awaits
the magic touch of capital to broadly popularize it. As it is,
nature has been very lavish to the place, and its situation and

50 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
the country surrounding it are very beautiful. I ran out there
one fine Saturday afternoon with Professor Freeman, under
the escort of Mr. McGrath, the bright young editor of the
St. Johns Herald, who gave us much information about
Newfoundland in general on the way. The train was
crowded with excursionists running out for an afternoon's or
a Sunday's outing ; and a very bright, healthy, happy-looking
lot of people they were. The ride afforded us many pretty
glimpses of lake and woodland, but these were to be eclipsed by
the first view of Topsail. It is situated on a magnificent bay
called Conception, so named by the pious Portuguese navi
gator, Gaspar Cortereal, in the year 1500 — a beautiful
sheet of water gently rolling in upon a pebbly beach. The
surrounding country is wild and rugged, and the combination
of hills and forests and sea makes up an ideal resort, whether
one wishes merely to loaf and enjoy his soul, or to hunt in
the woodlands, or fish upon the sea. We took supper at one
of the little inns, which had a number of small dining-rooms,
so that parties could sup together without intrusion, and
after enjoying a very comfortable and cozy meal we returned
to St. Johns exceedingly pleased with our trip.
Indeed, I found the surroundings of St. Johns so very
attractive that I much regretted I could not run farther into
the interior, where many beautiful spots are to be found, and
which is a paradise for the sportsman. But day and night
the workmen were hammering away at the Miranda's bow,
and it was only a question of a few days before she would be
ready to start again on her northward journey.
The interior of Newfoundland has never yet been fully
explored ; and in the dense forests that dot it, as well as in
the more open country, an abundance of game is to be found.
In 1822 a Scotchman named Cormack crossed the island from
east to west at its broadest point, but his journey has never
been repeated. It is said that great numbers of caribou and

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 51
moose are to be found in the interior, while the countless
lakes and ponds abound with trout, and are the abodes of
wild geese, duck, and other fresh-water fowl. Beaver and
otter also dwell in these lonely lakes. Ptarmigan, curlew,
plover, and snipe are found all over the island, on the great
barrens or in the marshy grounds, and Arctic hare and rab
bits also abound.
Of course, the cod is the great fish about Newfoundland,
for here are the greatest cod fisheries in the world ; the fish
eries off the Labrador coast are controlled by Newfoundland,
as the territory is under the jurisdiction of the latter.
The second great industry of the island is the seal fishery,
the products derived therefrom forming about one-eighth
of its entire exports. In olden times this industry was
carried on solely by sailing vessels and boats, but about thirty
years ago steam sealers were introduced ; and these, of course,
have a decided advantage over sailing craft. They are power
fully built, to withstand the pressure of the ice, and are large
enough to carry from a hundred to three hundred men ; but
the men are crowded into very close quarters. The risks of the
voyage, the adventures in catching seals, and the large gains to
be derived thereby, attract numbers of volunteers, and of these
the steamers have the pick. On account of the ice, the law
does not allow the sealers to clear before March 10, and
the season lasts but six weeks. It is a common thing for a
steamer to return in three or four weeks, laden down with
thirty or forty thousand seals, worth from two to three
dollars apiece. A third of the proceeds is divided among the
men ; the captain gets so many cents per seal, and the
remainder goes to the owner of the vessel. Lying about us
were quite a fleet of these steam sealers.
The conviction had forced itself upon us that the Miranda
was "not the man for Galway," was not the ship fitted for
ice-service. It was a question as to whether we could pro-

52 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
ceed with any degree of safety ; and we were obliged, much to
our disappointment, to give up all thought of entering Mel
ville Bay, both on account of the delay we had experienced
and the danger of getting nipped by pack ice, for every one
said that in such a contingency the Miranda would be crushed
like an egg-shell. After considerable deliberation and con
sulting of authorities, it was decided that it would be safe
for us to proceed to the southern coast of Greenland ; for, by
taking the right course, there would be little danger of meet
ing much ice at this time of year. Notwithstanding the
opinion of authorities, however, the people in general looked
upon us as little less than crazy for attempting to go on at all
after our unfortunate experience.
A small party of our excursionists were skirting about the
suburbs of the town one morning, when they came across the
lunatic asylum, and thought they would like to inspect it.
They rang the bell, and the door was opened by an attendant,
who said that visitors were not admitted upon that day. " We
come from the Miranda," said one of the party, starting to
explain. "Oh, walk right in!" immediately responded the
attendant, and the door was opened wide. The party entered,
but with an uncanny feeling that the heavy door might close
upon them and bid them leave all hope behind. Meantime,
the hammers were drumming merrily on the Miranda night
and day at her wharf close by the great dry-dock at St. Johns.
This is one of the largest dry-docks in the world. There
were three vessels getting repaired in it while we lay by. It
was erected at a cost of $600,000. It had been dredged out,
and its sides were heavily timbered in steps. The vessels
sail in, and then the entrance is closed by a pontoon-gate.
The water is pumped out by pumps so large and powerful
that they will empty the basin within four hours.
On July 28 the hammering ceased, the repairs were com
pleted, and we started for Frederickshaab, South Greenland,

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

53

planning to go directly across the straits, and thus avoid the
Labrador coast and its numerous icebergs. We started at
about nine o'clock in the evening, but anchored after steam
ing out a little way, and did not get well under way until five
o'clock on the following morning. The day was foggy at first,
but the fog lifted, and we bowled merrily along, making good

THE MIRANDA IN DOCK.
time, and with everybody in high spirits. Shortly after break
fast we passed Baccalieu Island, which is most densely popu
lated by seagulls. A few shots fired from the ship echoed
and reverberated about the island, and caused a partial
eclipse of the sun, on account of the dense mass of gulls that
circled over us. Not until I saw the wonderful loomeries of

54 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
Greenland did I behold again such countless myriads of gulls.
This island is the farthest point out between Conception and
Trinity bays. By the afternoon the coast had become a dim
outline, and was soon lost to sight. We passed several mag
nificent icebergs — great, gleaming masses of ice, each of
which on land would have covered acres of ground. The
ship danced up and down, tossed by billows ; but these
great icebergs, sinking as they do so far and deep into the sea,
are not moved by the motions of the surface, and the waves
dash against them as against a rocky coast, and fall back
again unheeded. The Arctic explorer Hayes says of icebergs :
"The iceberg is the largest independent floating body in the
universe except the heavenly orbs. There is nothing ap
proaching it within the range of our knowledge on this globe
of ours ; and yet it is but a fragment of the ice-stream, which
in turn is but an arm of the great ice-sea. And yet the iceberg
is to the Greenland ice as the paring of a finger-nail to the
human body, as a small chip to the largest oak, as a shovel of
earth to Manhattan Island." This gives some faint idea
of the vast amount of ice in the frozen regions of the
North ; the huge icebergs that passed us were but as little
chips floating away from the great body of ice they had left
behind. For the first two or three days after leaving St. Johns
we had fairly clear weather, and made good progress, and then
a dense fog fell upon us. Day after day we drifted about with
out anybody knowing exactly where we were, for no accurate
observations could be taken. Sometimes the fog would lift
to reveal to us that we were surrounded by floe ice and ice
bergs. For days we coasted along this ice in fog and rain,
attempting to find a passage through it. The long stretches of
ice, and the large icebergs towering like mountains above, and
the roaring of the waves dashing against the ice-floe,[com-
bined to make a scene both impressive and awful. The

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

55

fog was very moist, and wet us like rain, great drops of water
falling from it ; and it grew very cold.
" And now there came both mist and snow,
And it grew wondrous cold :
And ice mast high came floating by,
As green as emerald.
" The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around :
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled
Like noises in a swound."
We first saw the Greenland coast early in the morning of
August 3. The lofty peaks of Mount Nautsarsorfike and
Mount Kunguat could be discerned, and were perhaps sixty
or seventy miles distant. There was a great deal of floe ice
between us and the land, and also on the west of us. Ice-
pilot Dumphy wished to run through this ice ; but Cap
tain Farrell would not hear of it, and we slowly steamed
westward to make a detour amid numberless pieces of broken
ice. As
we looked
outwardthe ice
seemed to
form a
continu ous line
along the

THE GREENLAND COAST.

horizon.Then the
fog, seemingly more dense and heavy than ever, closed all about
us, and the ship was obliged to lie to with the ice all around it.
To the west of us there was a continuous roar as of waves
beating upon a rocky shore, but it was the noise of the ice-

56

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

pack. The water was very still, scarcely a ripple on its sur
face ; and some of the men took advantage of the calm by
going out in a small boat and securing a lot of ice from a
wasted berg near the ship. They lassoed great pieces of ice,
and in this way got about a ton on board.
At about six o'clock the fog cleared and disclosed an in
teresting state of affairs, for the floe was closing in on us.
To the west of us was a line of pack ice like a wall, only about
half a mile away ; it stretched both ways as far as the eye
could see, while to the east of us was another wall of ice, not

so sharply defined, but too much of it to attempt a passage
through. The Miranda fled in a southeasterly direction, and
it was a most interesting retreat through shapes and forms of
ice of all varieties and colors. Blue and green ice we saw of
different shades, and sometimes ice tinted with red. The
varying shapes kept us constantly interested, and the forms
assumed at times by the ice were wonderfully beautiful and
delicate. Here and there we saw seals, seated on masses of
ice, who eyed us with evident curiosity, and occasionally a
whale rose and spouted near the ship. Ice-pilot Dumphy was

THE LAST CRCISE OF THE MIRANDA. 57
perched in the shrouds, and reported open places visible
in a westerly direction. Slowly the ship picked its way
through the ice-belt, and by half-past seven we got through
the floe and into clear water, leaving a long line of ice
behind. It was now decided to run up to Disco, rather than try to
get in at Frederickshaab. But again the fog fell around us on
the ensuing day, and we drifted about, making little progress.
We were in latitude 62° 50', and longitude 53° 49'. When
ever the fog lifted we could, see icebergs about us — which
made the captain very careful ; and for some days we kept
drifting about, mostly in fog so dense that no observations
could be taken. On the morning of August 7, to our sur
prise and joy, we discovered that we were in sight of land —
rugged and uninviting, to be sure, but still land. High
mountains, with towering peaks covered with snow, and
bleak and barren islands, were outlined in the distance.
There was but little ice in sight, and we headed for the shore,
with our whistle blowing to attract the attention of any inhab
itants, should there prove to be a settlement upon this coast.
For an hour or so we lay to, blowing our whistle and firing
the cannon. After a while two little specks were seen afar
off, and ere long were made out to be Eskimo kayaks. Be
fore long a large boat hove in sight, and made directly for the
ship. Soon it was alongside of us, and proved to contain sev
eral Eskimos, who came on board and piloted our vessel into a
snug little harbor surrounded by islands. Here was a settle
ment, and on a hill we saw a flagstaff flying the Danish flag,
and collected about it a crowd of Eskimos, men and women —
mostly the latter, who apparently were in a great state of ex
citement, and were looking down at us with every indication
of curiosity and interest. Little houses or igloos were perched
about on the rocky hills, and near the landing was the more
commodious house of the Danish governors. The place proved

58

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

to be Sukkertoppen (Sugar-loaf), an Eskimo settlement of
about four hundred people, ruled by Governor Bistrup and
Assistant Governor Baumann. As soon as the ship dropped
anchor we were surrounded by a fleet of kayaks and oomiaks —
or woman's boat.
It was not long
before several of
our boats were
lowered among
this, to us, novel
fleet, and we
were soon on
shore. Here the
entire popula
tion, with the
exception of
those in the
boats, had gath-
ered just in
front of the gov
ernors' house,
and received us
with every expression of simple-minded wonder and delight.
We found that the governors were away for the time being,
and so we paid our respects to their ladies, and were most
hospitably entertained by them. After coming out from
the governors' house we had great sport with the natives.
The prettiest girls were selected from the crowd, which kept
in a solid phalanx, and induced, with much difficulty at
times, for they were not lacking in coquetry, to come
forward and have their pictures taken. Then we scattered
over the settlement generally, and the crowd broke and
followed us about in sections.
It was not long before the commercial spirit displayed

DANISH BUILDINGS AT SUKKERTOPPEN.

60 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
itself on both sides, and many of our party went back to the
ship to gather trading material which they had brought with
them. They came back bearing bags of every description
filled with knickknacks and old clothes. The place looked
as if it were being overrun with Hebrew peddlers, and the scene
was comical in the extreme. Some stood up on rocks, sur
rounded by an excited crowd of Eskimos, mostly women, and
auctioned their goods to the highest bidders, or to those who
displayed the articles they wished, while others made a regu
lar house-to-house canvass, and had great times dickering
with the residents thereof ; for bargaining had to be carried on
by signs not always rightly interpreted. Such a babel of
tongues as arose, such shouts of laughter, had probably never
before been heard in Sukkertoppen. One of our party, who
had read Mark Twain's story of the " Eskimo Maiden's Ro
mance," had purchased a supply of twenty-five hundred large
and shining fish-hooks with which to dazzle the eyes of the
natives : nay, he thought almost to blind them with his dis
play of wealth. But alas for him, fish-hooks seemed to be a
drug on the market in this particular settlement, and though
he pulled whole handfuls of them out from his bag, he pro
duced no curiosity or interest. Now I had been led to be
lieve by several Arctic explorers whom I had questioned
before starting that nothing was dearer to the heart of the
Eskimo than a needle, and the bigger the better. Conse
quently, I had purchased a lot of needles so large that as I
carried them . through New York I was in fear of being ar
rested for carrying concealed deadly weapons ; but thoughts
of the fine lot of furs I should bring back in exchange con
soled me for the risk. I hummed to myself the song of the
magnet in " Patience," slightly altered to suit the occasion :
" For if I can wheedle
A knife or a needle,
O why not an Eskimo ? "

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

61

But needles attracted no more attention among the
inhabitants of Sukkertoppen than did fish-hooks. Some
knowing ones had probably been here before us and flooded
the market. Ribbons were the things that went like hot
cakes, and a man with enough ribbons could soon have owned
the town. All the women wore ribbons in their hair, which
was tied up in a top-knot. These ribbons were worn not
only for ornament, but also
to designate the lady's con
dition. Maids wore red,
married women blue, wid
ows black, and those who
were neither maid, wife,
nor widow, green. Some
of the widows wore black
and red. ribbons interlaced ;
these formed a sort of
quick or the dead' colors,
and indicated a willingness
to marry again. It chanced
that a young theological
student of our party had
brought with him a great
roll of green ribbon, and
when he saw how popular
ribbons appeared to be, he
brought forth his roll and
unwound it before a lot of
maidens and their mam
mas. The hilarity that he
produced embarrassed him, and when he attempted to
hand his ribbons for examination to any one of them the
manner in which they ran laughing from him embarrassed
him all the more, and filled him with astonishment. Never-

ESKIMO BELLE.

62

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

theless, he persevered, and produced his ribbons in the midst
of many a virtuous household. But when an ethnologist of
the party, learned in Eskimo lore, explained to him the
significance of the wearing of
the green, he immediately re
turned to the Miranda, where
he might blush unseen.
While the green ribbon
does not render its wearer a
social pariah and outcast, as
did the flaming scarlet letter
in the days of the Puritans,
still on the other hand it is
not a badge of social distinc
tion, and its wearers are not
regarded as the leaders of
Sukkertoppen's "four hun
dred." But then there are
no social leaders in this primi
tive settlement, and no color
line is drawn ; so blue ribbon
and green ribbon and red
ribbon and black ribbon
mingled together without
thought of caste.
Men and women dress so
m uch alike that, were it not for
the top-knots and ribbons of the gentler sex, it would be hard
to distinguish them. The upper garment is a "timiak" — a
vest of birdskin — and over this is worn a kind of cotton jersey
called " anorak." On the legs are worn breeches of sealskin
or of reindeer skin. The women's breeches are shorter than
the men's, but to make up for this they wear longer boots,
called " kamics," which reach above the knee. The men's

A JUVENILE,

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

63

kamics go but little above the ankle. There is also more
ornamentation about the dress of the women. Their breeches
are richly decorated in front with colored skin and white
strips of dog or reindeer skin, and their long kamics are
brightly colored, and the fronts of these are also decorated
with stripes. Indeed, the costumes are very picturesque, and
vastly more becoming to these people than the ugly garments
that civilization has
forced upon us.
By the afternoon
the Miranda looked
like a floating mu
seum of natural his
tory. There were
already a consider
able collection of
stuffed birds on
board, which had
been prepared by
the naturalists of
the expedition;
then a number of
stuffed seals had
been secured in St.
Johns, and a variety
of skins in Labra
dor. This collection
was now augmented
by all kinds of Es
kimo goods in the
way of costumes,
boots, fur slippers, ornaments, implements of the chase, and
kayaks. Sixteen of these wonderful little boats now adorned
the decks of the Miranda. The kayak is an ingenious evolution

PORTRAIT OF A LADY.

THE KAYAK.

64 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
from the birch-bark canoe of the North American Indian, and
is remarkably well adapted to the uses required of it. It is built
of a frame of wood or bone, about twenty feet in length and
two and a half in breadth. A covering of sealskin, perfectly
water
proof, is
tightly stretched over the
frame, and in
the mid
dle of the
top there is a hole just large enough to permit the
kayaker to get his body in and take his seat on the bottom
of the boat with his legs stretched out in front of him. He
wears a sealskin coat with a hood over his head, and the coat
fits tightly around a rim round the aperture of the kayak,
so that it is impossible for any water to get into the boat. A
double paddle flaring at both ends is used, and the kayak is
sent over the water with great swiftness. It is wonderful to
see these little fellows go skimming over the water in their
canoes. They can perform all kinds of antics with the
ease of an acrobat, and are rather fond of showing off their
skill. They can turn complete somersaults in the water,
turning over and righting themselves with the greatest ease ;
and another form of sport is to spurt the boat forward and to
jump completely over the bow of another boat. In these
little canoes they hunt the seal and walrus, and all game to be
found above or under the water, and the boats are equipped
with various ingenious implements of the chase. There are
different kinds of fishing tackle, and a bird-spear of wood,
pointed with a bone spear-head, and a circle of barbed bone
lance-heads contrived so as to give a whirling motion to the

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

65

spear and thus entangle the object at which it is thrown.
Then there is a harpoon for seals, so arranged with a joint
that after the spear-head has struck the animal it becomes
detached from the shaft, the head being connected with a
thong in the hands of the hunter. This thong is attached to
a float consisting of a large bladder or an inflated and air-tight

ESKIMOS AT PLAY.

skin, which prevents the escape or sinking of the wounded
animal. Indeed, the Eskimos show considerable inventive genius
and skill in the construction of such articles as are needed in
their grim struggle for existence in an environment unfavor
able to human life. They will hold their own with any
aboriginal race on the face of the globe. Our civilization

66

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

cannot help them in so far as their struggle for life in their
environment is concerned. With their iron implements they
can secure all necessary food ; the possession of fire-arms only
leads to wanton destruction, and to the frightening away of
the game that is most precious to them. Their clothes, cer
tainly, are better adapted to their climate than any we could
make for them, and our most skilful boat-builders could not
build them boats that would serve them as well as those they
build for themselves.
The importation of various European products has un
doubtedly worked harm among these now semi - civilized
Eskimos. They have acquired a taste for tobacco, coffee,
European fabrics, and various knickknacks. In exchange
for these doubtful commodities they give their necessities of
life — s e a 1 s k i n
and blubber.
Their boats and
tents — absolute
nee essities — go
to rack and ruin,
unless the neces
sary sealskin is
forthcoming;and in winter
without blub
ber they lack
both light and
warmth. They
are an improvi
dent people, and
will exchange during their brief summer, for luxuries to them,
such as coffee and tobacco, things that are absolute necessities
during their long winters, and so entail upon themselves the
severest suffering — even starvation and death. They especially

ESKIMO HOUSE.

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

67

delight in coffee and tobacco, both of which are deleterious to
them. The coffee they drink very strong, and they revel in
the brief exhilaration that it affords them. But they are aware
of its injurious effects, and young men who are destined to be
good seal-catchers are
allowed little or none.
It is apt to produce a
giddiness fatal to a kay-
aker, who needs to have
always a clear head.
They both chew and
smoke tobacco, and even
the little children will run
after you — girls as well as
boys — begging for some
of the precious weed.
Spirits are not allowed by
the Danish governors to
be sold or exchanged
among them ; but if by
any means they can pro
cure any, they delight in
the effects produced.
Nansen, the Arctic ex
plorer, says, in speaking
of these West Greenland
Eskimos: " They are
passionately fond of spirits

MOTHER AND BABE.
men and women alike-

-not

because they like the taste, as I was often told, but because
it is so delightful to be drunk. And drunk they become
at every possible opportunity. Somewhat incongruously, too,
the women, as a rule, like their husbands best when they are
in a state of intoxication."
Living on the verge of existence, these people have need of all

68 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
their natural powers in their grim battle with an inimical and
difficult environment. The few virtues of civilization that
are with difficulty grafted upon them hardly compensate for
the civilized vices, which are only too easily spread among
them, and which so weaken them in their hard struggle for
existence. Indeed, the Danish Government has recognized the fact
that intercourse with civilized people is positively detrimental
to the Eskimos, and so it prohibits civilized persons other
than officials of the Government from remaining for any
length of time among them. Professor Dyche, of our party, the
well-known naturalist and hunter, wished to remain in Green
land all the winter, in order to increase his already great collec
tion of North American mammals ; but he was informed that
he could not remain without a permit from the Danish Govern
ment. Nothing daunted, he secured a permit after his return
to this country, and started again for Greenland in a small
schooner the following spring. At Holsteinborg he connect
ed with the Peary Relief Expedition, and returned with it,
bringing with him nearly 4,000 specimens of Arctic birds,
eggs, and animals. This is the largest collection that has
ever been made in the Arctic regions, and as it was made
within four months, great credit must be given Professor
Dyche for his energy and brilliant work.
As it was decided to remain at Sukkertoppen for a couple
of days, a party under Professor Wright was organized to visit
and explore a glacier about thirty miles away, up a fiord called
Isortok. Toward evening we started off in two boats, a life
boat and a dory. In the lifeboat were Professors Wright and
Jillson, Messrs. Dove, Kersting, Frederick Wright, Jr.,
Dunning, myself, and three Eskimos. In the dory were
Messrs. Ladd, Rogers, Carpenter, Joyner, and one Eskimo.
The Eskimos are good and untiring oarsmen. They row a
slow stroke, but they put their muscle into it and make it

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

69

tell. We took turns at the stroke oar, and occasionally
spelled the Eskimos ; but not often, for they can row for hours
on a stretch, and at the end seem as fresh as at the com
mencement. It was a beautiful row, amid strange and novel
scenery. When we were well out at sea, the sun, now a fiery
red ball, sank behind the great snow-capped mountains, tint
ing them and the clouds above with streaks of purple and
gold — tints that the waters reflected. Then we entered nar
row and winding channels, and rowed in and out among a

I ¦¦¦¦ ,-jt*. - 1 v -*»: -.* .:
FIRST CAMP IN GREENLAND.
number of small islands, mere rocks and moss, as desolate
and forbidding as could well be imagined. There is a vast,
brooding silence which hangs over the great wastes of Green
land ; it seems almost like an impertinence to break it, by
even the dip of an oar, while the sound of laughter or of
a human voice seems strangely and weirdly out of place. In
the long Arctic twilight we rowed for many hours, until at
length we entered the Isortok fiord, and near the mouth of
this we pitched our camp for the night. It was our first
camp in Greenland, and it was called Camp Outing.

70

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

We were up betimes in the morning, and immediately
after breakfast started for the glacier. The mainland was on
our right, a continuous stretch of steep declivities and tower
ing mountains. As we turned a bend we could see afar off
the white line
of the glacier
coming down
from on high
to the water's
edge. It was
hours before we
reached it, how
ever, for it was
many miles
away. Once we
met an oomiak,
escorted by a
couple of kay
aks. It was a
party of Eski
mos, men and
women, return
ing from fishing. We stopped and exchanged greetings,
and also exchanged a couple of plugs of tobacco and a
mouth-organ for some very fine salmon. The Eskimos went
on their way rejoicing, and with a concourse of sweet sounds
that were emitted vigorously from the mouth-organ. They
probably thought us very simple people to part with so rare
and wonderful an instrument for just a mess of fish.
We reached the glacier finally at about noon, and it was
not long before we were scaling up the steep mountain-sides,
following the course of the glacier upward. It was like climb
ing the Alps, where " peaks on peaks arise," and none of us
were able to reach the top — our time was too limited. I

FRONT VIEW OF THE ISORTOK GLACIER.

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 71
clambered with Mr. Ladd to an altitude of about twenty-five
hundred feet, from whence we enjoyed a magnificent view of
the numerous islands and fiords that lay below, of the main
land of Greenland, and of the great ocean beyond. Twice we
crossed spurs of the glacier, and onr feet sank deep in the soft
snow; forthe sun was so hot that we partially stripped ourselves
during our ascent. The moss that for the most part covered
the rocks was green and beautiful, and scattered about in
rich profusion were great numbers of wild flowers gorgeous in
their hues. The glaciers are the mothers of icebergs, which
are not formed of ice frozen on the surface of the polar seas,
but are pieces broken from the sea-ends of Arctic glaciers.
The interior of Greenland is covered with a vast ice-cap, from
which, down the valleys that extend between the central
tableland to the Atlantic on the east and Baffin's Bay on the
west, the ice glides down in frozen streams resistlessly to the
sea. During the brief Arctic summer the action of the waves
upon the debouching mouths of these great frozen rivers,
aided by the unwonted warmth of the sun, detaches hundreds
of thousands of tons of ice from the great glaciers, and thus ice
bergs are launched upon their career. This breaking off of
icebergs from the parent glacier is called calving, owing
to a fancied resemblance between the thunderous groans
that accompany the process to the moaning of a cow in
travail. By six o'clock we were gathered at the foot of the steep
mountains, and after a hasty meal started at once for a thirty-
mile pull back to the ship.
After we were out of the fiord we encountered a heavy sea ;
as the wind was dead against us, we had a hard pull until
we got in the lee of some islands, and the day was breaking
before we got back to the Miranda.
A few hours later we started away from Sukkertoppen for
Disco. Thoroughly tired out after our long pull, I was sleep-

Vi

THE LK'-T '¦f-r-f-P. OF TTfF. MIRANDA.

ing heavily, l/nt was awakened by the noise of the moving
snip. From out my port-hole I could gee quite a fleet of
kayaks about ns, which raced along, keeping pace with the
ship. A high sea was running, and the little boats would
sometime* be hidden from sight in the trough, but only to rise

CREVASSE.
again in an instant on the crest of a wave, down which they
would shoot like a toboggan. Gradually, the kayaks dropped
away one by one, and still feeling stiff and sore from the
exertions of the preceding day, I lay down in my bunk again
and dropped off in a half -doze.
Suddenly there was an ominous and grating sound, and

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 73
we commenced to bump and jar in a most alarming manner.
I jumped to my feet, but was immediately thrown down, and
there was a great crash of breaking glass and china, and a
terrible ripping sound, as if the vessel were being torn asunder.
Men, furniture, and everything loose about the ship were
thrown about in the wildest confusion. For a moment we
seemed to be impaled upon the rocks, upon which we had
rushed with such terrific force, with our engines at full speed.
I dressed hastily and went on deck, where there was a scene
of great confusion. We had struck upon a hidden reef, but
with the high waves and the fast rate of speed at which
we were going we had managed to run over it and get clear.
Nobody could tell the extent of damage done, and so the
worst was prepared for. We felt that we were liable to sink
at any moment, and all knew that the rocks had gored our
vessel in a terrible manner. Many were pushing about with
life-preservers in their hands ; some were working at the boats
to get them lowered, and others were bringing their most
valuable possessions up from their cabins to the deck. I saw
some strange sights : one man in his night-shirt, with a gun
in one hand and a life-preserver in the other, for some of the
passengers snatched at all sorts of odd things in the excite
ment of the moment ; another man had the ship's cat pressed
against his bosom. The captain was cool and collected, and
giving his orders with sharp decision. Our whistles were
kept blowing continually, and our solitary cannon was fired
off at rapid intervals as we turned back and made for Sukker
toppen with all possible speed. It took some time to find out
whether we were leaking badly or not ; then it was discovered
that the after water-ballast tank was full of water, but
as our pumps appeared able to keep the leakage from
gaining on us rapidly, there was apparently no immediate
danger. Strange to say, we had struck upon the rocks at
just about the same time in the morning that we had

74 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
collided with the iceberg — that is, at twenty minutes after
eight o'clock.
At about half-past nine two little specks were discerned
in the distance, alternately appearing and disappearing with
the motion of the waves, and as we drew nearer these turned
out to be two Eskimo pilots in kayaks. With great skill
they ran alongside the ship, unhitched themselves from their
gear, and came aboard. Then the governor's boat hove
in sight ; for our signals of distress had been heard, and it
bore the crack pilot of these waters. By eleven o'clock
we were safely anchored in the harbor of Sukkertoppen,
and the Miranda was tied with cables to ring-bolts in the
rocks. Now a more careful examination as to the damage the
rocks had done us was made — though, of course, it could
not be fully ascertained. It was discovered, however, that
whatever hole the rocks had made was just beneath the
ballast-tank. This tank extended the whole width of the
ship, and lay beneath the engine-room and stoke-hold. It
was empty wheii the Miranda left Sukkertoppen ; but on her
return after the accident was found to be full of water,
and the pumps could make no impression upon it. It was
fortunate for us that the force of the blows had been sus
tained by this portion of the ship, for had the rocks gored
anywhere else we should have gone to the bottom at once.
The top of the ballast-tank acted as a false bottom and kept
us afloat ; but the top of this tank was thin and worn and
coated with rust, liable to burst at any minute if sub
jected to a rough sea. Hence the captain at once decided
that it was unsafe to venture forth in the Miranda, and
the question of how we were to get home again stared us in-
the face.
Here was a pretty how-de-do. We were stranded in
Greenland. Provisions already were beginning to run short,

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 75
and the settlement could not afford us any, having a bare
sufficiency for itself. There was no chance of getting away
before spring, unless we secured some vessel cruising about
in the vicinity. There was a bare chance that the Falcon
might be intercepted on her return from Peary's headquar
ters ; but then the Falcon, being a small ship, could accom
modate only a few of us, at best, in addition to those she
had on board. We learned from the governor that there
were two or three American schooners at the fishing-banks of
Holsteinborg, about a hundred and fifty miles away. Here,
then, was our chance of getting back to civilization ; but how
one of these schooners finally came to our rescue must be told
in another chapter.

CHAPTER IV

When it was ascer
tained that we should
have to remain at Suk
kertoppen until some
vessel could be secured
to rescue us we at once
set about organizing par
ties for various e x p e ¦
ditions. Of course, the
most important thing was
to secure one or more of
the fishing-schooners reported to be off the fishing-banks
near Holsteinborg, about one hundred and forty miles away.
A relief party was selected to go to Holsteinborg for this
purpose under the command of Dr. Cook. The other
members of the party were Messrs. Ladd, Rogers, Porter,
Thompson, and Dunning. Captain Farrell gave Dr. Cook
the following letter, to be given to the captain of any ship
that he might find : " Sukkertoppen, South Greenland, )
" August 10, 1894. J
" To Whom It May Concern .
" Dear Sir : — The steamer Miranda, of Liverpool, England, from
New York, with Dr. Frederick A. Cook's Arctic Expedition, struck
a sunken rock seven miles southwest of this harboi'. The ship is
making water. Dr. Cook is going to you for immediate assistance,
which please send, as we are in distress.
" Yours truly,
"Capt. Wm. J. Farrell,
" Master of Steamship Miranda."
Governor Bistrup placed an open sailboat at the disposal

SIMILIK GLACIER.

78 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
of the party, and sent a Dane and four picked Eskimos along
with it. The expedition started on the evening of August 10.
On that date two other parties started out — a party to explore
the Similik glacier, composed of Professors Wright and
Jillson, and Messrs. Dove, F. Wright, Jr., Kersting, Orth,
Rumrill, and Brown ; and a party to go np the Isortok fiord
to hunt and fish, composed of Dr. Cramer, Professor Freeman,
Dr. Stebbins, and Messrs. Gay, Joyner, Garrison, and my
self. AVe took along with us Clark, one of the waiters,
who proved himself an invaluable man, and five Eskimos as
guides. We had two boats, which were pretty well loaded
with our tents, provisions, baggage, guns, etc., to say nothing
of ourselves and the guides. Our main object was to hunt
deer. We went over the same course that I had previously
been over in going to the glacier, except that we eventually
passed the glacier and went about fifteen miles farther on.
At about eight o'clock in the evening we reached an island
near the mouth of Isortok fiord, and here we pitched our tents
for the night. Clark cooked us an excellent meal, though we
had to be sparing with our provisions, for on the Mirandav/e
had already been put on short rations of two meals per diem.
At the start the stocking of the ship had been put in the
hands of a steward who was entirely new to the business.
He was a recent Yale graduate and an excellent linguist, but,
like the famous Miss Von Blurkey,
" Both Latin and Greek he could fluently speak,
But he did not know chicken from turkey."
Had the worst come to the worst, he might perhaps have
supplied us with enough Greek roots to have kept us all alive.
The next day it was raining hard, and the Eskimos, whom
we had to consult in matters of this kind, declared that we
could not proceed. They were very positive weather prophets,
and it must he admitted that they did understand their own

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

79

climate pretty well. They looked at the sky, observed the
course of the winds, shook their heads, and said " No goot,"
"no goot," this phrase being the extent of their knowledge

SOME YOUNG PROPHETS.
of English, and then dove into a little cavern, in which they
made their quarters. They had covered the mouth of this
cavern with a sail. It was evidently a favorite resort for
Eskimo outing parties, as it was full of fish-bones and refuse
of all kinds, and had a most abominable odor ; this seemed to
make them feel at home and happy.
In the afternoon it lightened up a little, and Dr. Cramer
and Professor Freeman decided to go back to the 21 ir anda
for some oilskins ; at our camp we were only about twelve
miles from the ship. They coaxed a couple of Eskimos from
their redolent cavern and started away in our smaller boat,

*0

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

with tne intention of coming back as soon as the storm was
over. Later it began to rain in real dead earnest. That
night was one of the most uncomfortable I have ever spent.
Our tent had been injudiciously pitched on a side-hill, and so
a small waterfall percolated through the mossy floor. Green
land moss makes an excellent bed when dry, but when it
rains it quickly becomes like a wet sponge. We could make
no fire, because there was nothing to burn except moss,
which at the time was impossible, and the night was very
,. - cold. We had a
little oil-stove,
which we kept
going until it
burned out ; but
this did not help
matters much.
The tent's roof
was so wet that
great drops fell
on our upturned
faces as we lay
huddled together
in the middle of
the camp, and I
could push iny
boot down in the
wet moss and
hear the water
gurgle. There
was not much
sleep that night for anybody. We fell to talking about
comfortable waterproof beds in order to divert our minds.
" Did you ever sleep in two empty flour barrels ?" remarked
Clark, whose experiences seemed to have been varied. " No,"

CARL AND HIS TWO BEST GIRLS.

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

81

said a voice; "I'll admit that I have been intoxicated, but
I have never been that bad." Nevertheless, Clark went on to
describe how good and dry a couch could be made of two bar
rels ; and the idea of any kind of a dry couch was comforting.
The next day it ceased raining,
except a fine drizzle ; but the Eski
mos still shook their heads and
said "No goot." We shot some
guillemots and sandpipers, which
relieved the monotony of the day.
In the afternoon the boat came
back from the ship with the Eski
mos ; they brought a note from Dr.
Cramer saying that all the weather
prophets in Sukkertoppen predicted
stormy weather for some days, and
therefore he and Professor Freeman
would not return until the storm
was over, as it was useless to proceed
until it cleared. The boat was to
return to the Miranda that after
noon, so that any one could go back to the ship who desired to
do so. I took young Carl Garrison with me and made for
the Miranda. We needed more bread, and I wished to get a
rubber blanket — a necessity for this kind of camping. It was
about nine in the evening when we reached the ship. The day
was Sunday, and I went over to the settlement to pay my re
spects to the governors and their ladies, who dwelt amicably
under one roof. Here I found several of our party, for the
governors' house was a very popular rendezvous, aud we passed
a most agreeable evening. Assistant-Governor Baumann and
his wife both spoke English very well, as did also Mrs. Bistrup,
who acted as interpreter for her husband. A charming young
lady, Miss Fausboll, half English, half Danish, was staying

THE TWO GOVERNORS.

82

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

with Mrs. Bistrup, so altogether it was no wonder that the
governors' house was extremely popular — one was sure of being
most hospitably received and agreeably entertained. Mrs.
Baumann sang exceedingly well, and all the ladies were well
versed in English and American literature ; and I must not
forget to mention that the governor possessed an excellent
stock of wine and cigars. The talk turned upon the Eskimos
and their traits. It seemed that there had been an epidemic
raging in some of the small hamlets about, which the gov
ernor attributed to the people eating putrid whale-meat — a
delicate morsel among them. Six hunters from Sukkertop-

MRS. BAUMANN.

BISTRUP CHILDREN.

MRS. BISTRUP.

MISS FAUSBOLL.

pen had recently gone to an encampment where the epidemic
was raging, and only two had returned ; the others were
stricken down. When well the natives will not listen to ad
vice, and are very improvident ; but when sick they get very
much frightened. Death terrifies them exceedingly, and they

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

83

mourn deeply for a few days the loss of a relative or friend ;
then suddenly they become merry again, and apparently think
of their loss no more.
In character the Eskimo is gay and careless ; if he has
enough to eat he enjoys the present and gives no thought to

ENTRANCE TO AN ESKIMO HUT.
the future. He has a strongly developed sense of freedom
and independence, which is natural, considering the nomad
life of his ancestors. Another prominent trait is his honesty ;
for theft among Eskimos is very rare, and is looked upon
as exceedingly reprehensible. Murder is almost unknown,
and they do not make war upon one another. They are
very hospitable in disposition, and are good-natured and
kind-hearted. Polygamy was common before the West Coast
Eskimos became converts to the Christian faith, but now
monogamy is the ideal, though not always closely adhered to
in practice. Occasional cases of open polygamy are still to be
met with, but these are very rare. Woman, though consid
ered inferior to man— a grading not entirely peculiar to the

84 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
Eskimo — yet enjoys a good status, and is treated with consid
eration. The division of labor in a household is distinct.
The man is the hunter and supporter of the family ; his work
is performed almost exclusively upon the sea ; on land he
loafs and invites his soul. The women take care of the
booty, skin the seals, and cut them according to prescribed
rules. They prepare and cook the food, dress the skins,
make clothes, cover the boats ; they build and manage the
houses, and even the large boats, or oomiaks. The houses are
built of stone and turf, and generally contain but one room,
entrance to which is effected through a long, narrow passage.
In the single large room the entire family, or more often an
aggregation of families, eat and sleep. There are generally
several benches in this room, and upon these the inhabitants
huddle together and sleep. Some of the houses have fireplaces,
but mostly the room is heated by lamps burning blubber-oil.
The cooking is done in a special fireplace outside, near the
entry ; the fuel used is peat and a kind of guano provided
by the gulls. The culinary method is very simple. Meat
and fish are eaten both raw and cooked, and these edibles are
highly prized when in a state of decomposition, which is sup
posed to give a spice to them. Seal and whale blubber are
eaten raw, and because the Eskimos feel the want of vegetable
food they are very fond of the contents of the paunch of the
reindeer — a mixture of moss and such spare vegetation as
the deer can find. A preserve made of this compound,
mixed with crowberries and blubber, is another delicate mor
sel. " Matak," or the skin of whale or dolphin, taken off the
animal with the upper layer of fat and eaten raw, is another
Eskimo ion louche.
The social system of the West Greenland Eskimos is a
mixture of their own traditions and of modern European
ways. There is a modified communism among them. They
recognize private property in the kayak and its appurtenances,

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

85

wearing apparel, and certain household effects. In land there
is no property, and the spoils of the hunter do not belong en
tirely to him. In the main the whole settlement must, as far
as possible, profit by the booty of a single hunter, so that
families are not entirely dependent upon their own natural
providers. They have laws defining the amount in regard tc
each animal that the hunter can keep for himself and family,
and how much he must distribute among his neighbors. If
the whole pro
vision is not con
sumed, and there
are no neighbors
still in want, the
hunter may put by
for his winter
store. But if want
and famine come,
then this store is
brought out to be
shared in common.
It is a thing un
known in Green
land for some to
live in abundance
while others are in
suffering and want
about them. The
Golden Rule was
written upon the
hearts of these
people and practised long before the advent of the missionary.
Upon going back to the ship that evening I had an inter
esting talk with Professor Brewer, who was in charge in the
absence of Dr. Cook. lie had attended the Eskimo church

DENMARK AND GREENLAND.

8G

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

that day, and gave me such a graphic description of the
services that, with his kind permission, I subsequently made
a copy of his account as given in his journal, and reproduce
it herewith. We went ashore at ten — a dozen of us. The rain had
nearly ceased, and numerous rills coursed down the rocks
opposite the hamlet in picturesque cascades.

THE NARROW PATH.
We had been told that the services began at ten ; it was
after ten, but no one had assembled, and so we waited out
side. The scene was curiously picturesque. The tide was but
half in, and the little cove by the church was yet dry. On
the slopes were the huts or houses of the natives, and behind
the rugged rocky hills rose, their tops obscure and illy defined
in the thick air. Little cascades like white ribbons hung
against the sides of the gray granite hills. A few patches of

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 81
snow were near — not many nor large, but enough to show
what Greenland dog-days are.
With the second bell the people hurried from their houses,
almost simultaneously, and the congregation was quickly as
sembled. We waited outside until all were in but a few strag
glers, then went in, and were shown front seats, probably
seats of honor ; but I should have preferred to have been in
the rear, where I could have seen the congregation better.
The elderly people sat in the rear and the children in
front : women on the left, with the girls in front ; men on
the right, with most of the boys in front. There was very
much coughing by the natives, especially when they came
in ; less so later, although there was much all through the
service. The people sat very close ; there were many chil
dren, and an almost continuous cooing of the babies.
The little church is of stone, the walls over three feet thick,
whitewashed without, sealed with boards within ; the boards
painted a dull pale-blue on the sides, the ceiling white.
A raised platform extended along one end ; on our right a
plain desk, on the left a melodeon, or parlor organ ; a
reading-stand was moved to the middle by the clergyman for
reading. Back there was an altar with crucifix and two unlighted
candles ; in front a railing and kneeling-step, as if for com
munion and confirmations. The preacher was a little old
man with thin face and spectacles, in blouse and hood and
sealskin boots. He was probably a Dane, but so bronzed that
he was as dark as many of the natives. He had a kindly face
and kindly, plaintive voice, his whole look and voice in keep
ing with the place. The service began at 10.45 and ended
at about 11.50.
After invocation and prayers, there was singing by the
congregation, with the organ. There seemed to be less dif
ference between the male and female voices than with our

88 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
race. The melody was excellent, and ' also the time ; the
voices rich, but thin. The only dragging I heard was when
some of our party took up the time and sang with them.
The tunes were Lutheran, and had a familiar sound, as we
have hymn-tunes based on them.
The hymns were long ; the singing was prolonged and

wm •?«»

I

.»m.jtm..~- ~«.

AT THE CHURCH DOOR.
pleasing in the extreme. There was a charm about it that
was to me simply delightful. After the singing came what I
took to be a sermon, read, which lasted about twenty-five
minutes ; then more singing and prayers — the singing of the
second time impressing me even more than the first. The time
was so well kept ; not a note of discord. Afterwards, short
prayeis, during which the babies cooed again ; not one cried

90 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
during the service, but during the last part one or two fretted
with that peculiar fret which civilized mothers recognize as
a sign of hunger. I suppose the same was the case here, for
I noticed that in each case it stopped suddenly, and that baby
was not heard from again.
At the close the women went out first, the men remaining
in their seats until all the women were out, and until we left.
Indeed, I did not see them come out, as we went directly to
our boat and returned to the ship.
Of the many churches and congregations I have attended ser
vices in and with, never one more interesting than this. The
church, the race, the quaint costumes, the service, entirely in
the Eskimo tongue, the music, the simple service and devout
attention, made a picture and left a profound impression.
We were unable to make a start for the camp until
August 14. It had rained hard and continually, and the sea
was so high that the Eskimos would not venture forth, and
the governor advised us strongly to trust to their instincts.
In the afternoon of that day it stopped raining, and we finally
induced the Eskimos to make a start, though they consented
with evident unwillingness. We had hardly been out more
than an hour when the rain began again to fall in torrents,
and a high wind dead against us, and a high sea, made it the
hardest kind of work to reach again the shelter of the islands
in our little archipelago. For some time we seemed to be
running a dead heat with a large rock not far to starboard ;
for an hour or so we did not gain a foot, but just managed to
hold our own against wind and tide. The poor Eskimos
pulled like Trojans. I had hold of the helm, and had great
difficulty in keeping the boat's head to the wind and waves.
My hands, incased in woollen mittens, wringing wet, were so
numb that I could hardly keep hold of the tiller. We had an
uncomfortable night at camp again, but not nearly so bad as

THE MORNING BREAKS.

92 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
the former one, because the morning after that memorable
night we had selected a better camping-ground upon a dead
level, so that although our floor was undoubtedly moist, it did
not this time resemble a swamp.
When morning broke it was clear and beautiful, and we
started at last for our happy hunting-grounds in most excel
lent spirits. The unveiling, as it were, of the magnificent
scenery about us by the sun's dispersal of the heavy mists and
fog was one of the grandest and most impressive sights I have
ever witnessed. Most of the mountain ranges in the distance
stood out distinctly in the clear sun, but the loftiest peaks
were still veiled by white clouds of mist. The keen, clear
air after the damp and fog was exhilarating in the extreme,
and we broke out into the wildest shouts and bacchanalian
songs, to the great amusement of our Eskimo friends. Just
as we were starting and had our boats ready to push off, we
suddenly heard a volley of shots, and a large oomiak hove in
sight, containing a band of joyful Eskimos who were return
ing from a deer-hunt. They had captured twenty-four deer,
so they indicated, and held up a number of deer-horns to prove
their assertion. The body of one of their comrades who had
died on the expedition was lying in the bottom of their boat,
but this did not seem to interfere with their cheerfulness.
Most of them landed and gazed at us with the greatest curi
osity and wonder, for they had been away in camp since
before our arrival. We parted with many salutations and
expressions of good will conveyed through gestures.
We had a magnificent pull that day of about thirty miles
up the Isortok fiord, blazing away now and then at a guille
mot or a puffin. We had a kayak in tow — a most useful boat
in an excursion of this kind ; for whenever a bird fell one of
the Eskimos would get in the kayak, go back and pick up
the bird, and rejoin us without delaying our progress. After
we had passed the glacier that I mentioned before, we rowed

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

93

by some wonderful loomeries of seagulls. Steep, precipitous
cliffs rose to a height of two or three thousand feet straight
upward from the water, and these were thickly dotted with
thousands upon thousands of seagulls, perched in crowds on

UP ISORTOK FIORD,
ledges everywhere. As the Eskimos are very fond of a sea
gull stew, and made signs that they would like to have some
of the birds, we fired a few shots at some of the crowded
ledges, and about half a dozen birds fell at every shot. They
filled the bottom of our boat, and looked so downy white and
pretty that it seemed almost a shame to sacrifice them, but
our provisions were so scarce that this slaughter of the in
nocents was a necessity. The shots caused the birds to jump
from their perches, and soon countless thousands of screaming
gulls were circling all about us. It was impossible to make
any adequate estimate of their numbers.
We reached Our camping-grounds at about four o'clock in
the afternoon, and pitched our two tents upon a mossy pla-

94

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

teau on the banks of a narrow stream. All around us the
great, gaunt mountains arose, and near by a huge glacier
coursed downward to the sea. The next morning we were up
by five o'clock, and each one took an Eskimo guide, and go
ing his own way, started to hunt the reindeer which are said
to inhabit these regions. By nightfall the party were back
in camp again, tired, hungry, disappointed; for not a deer
had even been seen. We had ascended high mountains and
descended into valleys, clambered over rocks and snow, and
all sorts of precipitous places, but not even the sight of a

HUNTING GROUNDS.

deer had rewarded our efforts. Here and there we found
footprints, but this was all. I regret to have to record this
fact ; but as a truthful historian I am compelled to admit
that, though we wandered over this country for days, we saw
no deerat all. Either a bird had carried the news to the deer
that we were coming and they had wisely moved inland, or —

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

95

a somewhat more probable supposition — the Eskimos did not
want us to get any deer, and had brought us to an unlikely
spot— a ground that had recently been hunted over. The
reindeer are very necessary to the Eskimos, not only for food,
but also for their skins, which are utilized for various pur
poses ; small wonder, then, if they are not anxious to assist

NO DEER IN SIGHT.

strangers in capturing these valuable animals. Had we had
time to strike our tents and move inland, I have no doubt
we should have found fine sport. Clark, indeed, reported that
he had seen deer on several occasions about the camp when
the rest of us were far away ; but Clark was not fond of soli
tude, and was apt to solace himself by fishing out of the

96 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
tent some hidden bottle ; and after he had indulged in a soli
tary seance he was apt to see any animal — not excepting
snakes. But though we got no deer, we caught quantities of
salmon and salmon -trout in the stream near us, and also
lake -trout, in the clear fresh -water lakes, which were all
about us. Our stream was simply teeming with fish. I
know that fish stories are generally taken with a grain of salt,
and often with more liberal quantities ; but as 1 have been
truthful about the deer, though in so far-away a region it
would be easy to draw upon the imagination without de
tection, my word shoul 1 be relied upon as regards the amount
of fish we caught. This is a fact : during an afternoon's
sport one of our party caught one hundred and sixty-two
salmon - trout, and another within an hour's time captured
forty-five. The Eskimos had a little set-net with which they
caught some beautiful large salmon, and they also gaffed the
fish with great skill. We simply revelled in salmon and
trout. I know of nothing finer than a salmon just out of
the water, or a large salmon-trout baked upon a flat rock.
Any one who has indulged in this luxury out in the open after
a day's sport can bear me out in the assertion. Up in the
highlands we found those delicious birds, the ptarmigan, and
on the water we shot guillemots, murres, and puffin, so that
we managed to live well in spite of our lack of venison.
On August 19 we bid a regretful farewell to our camp, for
it was time for us to get back to the Miranda. Dr. Cook
was expected back within ten days from the time of starting,
and we did not want to take any chances of causing a delay.
We carried back to our comrades on the ship two hundred
pounds of salmon. There was one thing we were glad to
leave behind us, and that was an old familiar pest — the mos
quito. I have come to think that Greenland is the father
land of the mosquito ; for over its wastes it breeds and multi
plies in a way that gives evidence of a most conducive environ-

PROFESSOR WRIGHTS CAMP.

98 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
ment. We made face-masks of mosquito-netting and wire to
wear when out hunting, otherwise the torture would have
been unbearable. All day long we rowed, spelling each other
at intervals, and reached the ship at about ten in the even
ing. Of course, it was still light at that time. We had no
night as we understand it, only a few hours of dusk or twi
light. We were about forty miles from the Arctic Circle.
Across that the Arctic summer is one long day.
" A polar day, which will not see
A sunset till its summer's gone —
Its sleepless summer of long light,
The snow-clad offspring of the sun."
The glacier party had returned a few hours earlier, but Dr.
Cook and his associates had not yet put in an appearance.
Professor Wright and his party were much pleased with the
results of their trip, although they, as we, had had a pretty
rough time of it with rain and wind storms. They had been
enabled during the few fine days to explore and measure sev
eral glaciers pretty thoroughly, however, and Mr. Kersting
had secured a number of photographs — pictures taken with
great labor and pains, and destined soon to be carried down
into the sea. From notes supplied by him I am enabled to
give a brief account of this expedition. The party started Au
gust 9 in a whale-boat, loaned by Governor Bistrup, with two
dories from the Miranda as convoys. They took with them
five Eskimos as guides and to help with the rowing. At sun
set they reached Ikamuit, a small Eskimo settlement contain
ing four houses. The year before the place had been almost
entirely swept away by a great body of water that rushed
down from a neighboring mountain and swept away the little
igloos and drowned several inhabitants. Ikamuit signifies
" place without shelter." The party found it worthy of its
name, for they were caught in the same storm that overtook

nV^Bnian,

j
mm
tjLj
pvf
«pl
L, ft ..:
9flR hIHhV^ •*
7nfe
fir* IB
l||
if'1
P|
W^Ik
SU
'S . JaSRIk
100 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
our hunting-party, and had much the same kind of an ex
perience. For six days they were pinned to their camp by the
fury of the elements, and only short excursions were taken in
the immediate neighborhood. On Sunday, the third day out,"
the storm abated somewhat, and in rambling in the vicinity
of the camp Mr. Kersting came across an Eskimo girl en
gaged in pulling the skins from a number of ducks that had
evidently been killed several days, for the flesh was black and
covered with maggots. She scraped these from one of the
ducks, and offered it to the stranger with true Eskimo hos
pitality. But he refused the generous offer : so she laugh
ingly took her ducks where they would be appreciated, and
soon the entire little settlement fell upon the birds and de
voured them, without either cooking or cleaning. De gusti-
bus non est disputandiim.
In front of the camp ran a little brook, and here the party
performed their ablutions, and here the Eskimos would gather
to watch them go through these strange and novel perform
ances. The process of brushing the teeth filled them with
unbounded wonder, but when one of the party removed a set
of artificial teeth and washed them there was almost a terrified
stampede, and he became an object of superstitious awe and
veneration. Surely a man who could remove his teeth could
remove mountains.
On Sunday morning a simple service was held by the
natives in one of the huts ; it consisted mostly of the singing
of hymns. In the afternoon Professor Wright held service in
the tent, and' all the Eskimos attended.
On the following day members of the party tried their
hands at fishing, but did not have much success until a couple
of little Eskimo girls came along and set the pace for them.
They carried a short stick with a sealskin line attached about
five feet in length. They threw these lines by the rocks and
pulled them up and down, and soon had a mess of cod. The

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 101
Eskimo method was adopted with success by the stranger-
fishermen. Quantities of black mussels were found, which
were converted into an excellent soup.
On the 14th a dory containing Messrs. Dove and Rumrill
started for the Miranda. Mr. Dove was wearied of Green
land camp-life, and Mr. Rumrill returned to get some oil and
other necessary articles. On Thursday the weather cleared,
tents were struck, and all hands took to the boats and pulled
away to make the Similik glacier. On several occasions
the camp had been left entirely in charge of the Eskimos,
and though it contained for them great luxuries, such as
coffee and tobacco, nothing was touched or taken. On
Friday the party clambered over the great glacier and made
about five miles toward the inland ice, crossing broad cre
vasses, and carefully avoiding many pitfalls, cracks, and soft
snow. On Saturday the party started for Sukkertoppen, but had
not proceeded far before they were overtaken by a severe storm
and were forced to take shelter upon an island. They managed
to get up a tent, but so strong was the wind that members of
the party spelled one another all night long in holding the tent
down and keeping it and their belongings from being blown
into the water. On the next day the party succeeded in get
ting back to the Miranda, tired out with their fierce struggle
with the elements, but happy over the ultimate success of
their trip. The results of this trip, as well as other observa
tions on glacial phenomena, are given by Professor Wright in
the able article which he has contributed to this book.
At about nine o'clock on the morning of August 20 a
great cheer arose, and on going on deck I saw a small schooner
riding in to our harbor, surrounded by great numbers of
kayaks. It was not long before Dr. Cook and his party came
rowing over to the Miranda, and they were received with
great enthusiasm, as can well be imagined. The schooner

102 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
they had secured was the Rigel, commanded by Captain
George W. Dixon, of Gloucester, Mass. The history of the
expedition after the schooner is a very interesting one, and I
have abridged it from the diary of one of the members, Mr.
Russell W. Porter, who kindly placed his notes at my dis
posal. For a fuller description of this trip I can refer my
readers to Mr. Porter's own narrative.
The expedition started, as I mentioned before, at about
six o'clock on the evening of August 10. Early the next
morning they arrived at Kangarmuit, otherwise known as Old
Sukkertoppen. Here they remained for a day and a half on
account of bad weather, being allowed by the governor to
take up their quarters in the loft of the church, as there was
no other building large enough to accommodate the party.
On Sunday morning, the 12th, they started away, and sailed
mtil eleven that night, when they camped upon a small
island. They broke camp the following morning, but as there
was a heavy wind and rain storm, they found that they could
make no progress, and were obliged to go into camp again.
For two days the storm continued, and they had great diffi
culty in keeping the tent from blowing away. The party
finally got away early on August 15, and sailed and rowed for
sixteen hours, arriving at Holsteinborg at eight o'clock in the
evening. On the way they stopped at Itirdlek, a small settle
ment, to inquire about the schooners. No schooners were
there, but some were reported at Nepisat, not far away ; they
went to Nepisat, but found no ships, and so went on to Hol
steinborg. As they neared this place they ran up the Ameri
can flag and fired a salute with rifles ; a Danish flag was im
mediately run up on shore, and an answering salute fired from
the governor's cannon. They were hospitably entertained by
Governor Miiller, of Holsteinborg, who made the party take
their meals at his house, and gave them a room in one of
nis outhouses. They found out that the schooner Rigel, of

|_

TERMINAL MORAINE.

104 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
Gloucester, Mass., had left Holsteinborg on the previous day
for the Banks, and that there were five other schooners out
side. Three of the party were detailed to go to the top of a
neighboring mountain, eighteen hundred feet high, to look
for a schooner with a spy-glass ; but they had hardly started
before a schooner was seen bearing west by south. Mr.
Rogers went back to inform Dr. Cook, and an Eskimo in
a kayak was sent over to the schooner. Two of the party
continued the ascent of the mountain, and plunged into a
driving snow-storm about four hundred feet from the summit.
In the evening they returned to the governor's house, where
the party was assembled, and shortly afterward news was
brought that a dory had been sighted coming up the harbor.
The dory proved to contain Captain Dixon, of the schooner
Rigel. The schooner had been five months out from Glouces
ter, and had recently come from fishing on the Iceland coast.
The day before several couriers had been despatched in
kayaks to scour the surrounding waters for any of the reported
schooners, and they bore letters from Dr. Cook calling for
assistance. One of these couriers had boarded the Rigel near
Itirdlet, and so Captain Dixon had come over post-haste to
Holsteinborg, arriving at about ten o'clock in the evening.
In talking over the matter with Dr. Cook Captain Dixon
said that before he could go to the rescue of the people on
board the Miranda he would have to consult with his crew,
as they were co-operative sharers in the profits of the fishing
trip, which would have to be abandoned if the rescue were
made at once. He said that his trip would be over about
September 5, and that he could then call at Sukkertoppen ;
but if his men were willing to give up the trip and start for
Sukkertoppen at once he would bring his schooner up in the
offing in the morning and fly his flag as a signal. He then
left to go back to the Rigel.
The following morning a man was detailed to mount the

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

105

hill and look for a signal from the schooner. She was sighted
flying her flag and making north. The party collected their
baggage, and after bidding farewell to the hospitable gov
ernor they boarded the Rigel, which was lying about a mile
from the harbor, and set sail for Sukkertoppen. Captain
Dixon was obliged to exercise much caution, for the waters

THE COMING OF THE RIGEL.
were strange to him, and three dangers threatened him — fog,
ice, and sunken rocks. As it was, the schooner struck a
sunken rock at the outset of the journey, but after bumping
several times she cleared it without serious damage.
On the morning of August 20, when the schooner had
been sighted from the Miranda, Captain Farrell rowed out
to meet her, and it was not long before the two captains[had

100 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
come to terms. It was agreed between them that $4,000
should be paid to Captain Dixon as a recompense for breaking
in upon his fishing trip, and for carrying the passengers to
some port where they could get transportation home. It was
also agreed that the schooner should accompany the Miranda
to some convenient port of repair, and that the crew of the
schooner should hold themselves in readiness to rescue the
officers and crew of the Miranda in case the steamer should
founder or have to be abandoned — the recompense for this to
be settled by arbitration, or by mutual agreement between the
agents of the schooner and the underwriters of the Miranda.
At first glance it might seem to the reader that $4,000 for
taking the party to a port of safety was rather high ; but a few
words suffice to show that it was only a just and moderate
charge. In the first place, it must be remembered that our
party, with the Miranda's crew, numbered seventy-five men
all told, making the price per head a trifle over fifty-three
dollars. Then Captain Dixon was obliged to give up finish
ing out his fishing trip, and a trip into these regions means
considerable expense and great hardships. An average catch
of halibut would net $6,000. Again, half the sum netted by
a fishing schooner of the kind goes to the owners of the
vessel ; the remainder is divided between the captain and
crew. Indeed, Captain Dixon generously offered to take the
entire party homeward for nothing if they would consent to
remain in Greenland two or three weeks longer and allow him
to finish his fishing. But the inadequate stock of provisions
made it dangerous to remain even for this short period of
time. In truth, the expedition was at the mercy of this big-
hearted captain ; he could have demanded any sum that he
pleased. As it turned out, the contract made proved to be
in no way binding upon the Miranda's owners. They felt
themselves in nowise bound to pay the $4,000, and did not
do so. They held that in losing the ship, notwithstanding

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 107
its insurance, they had themselves suffered considerable loss.
The law does not hold a company responsible for a contract
made with a captain under these circumstances. Had the
Miranda been brought into port, then Captain Dixon would
have had a legally recognized claim. As it was, he could not
recover even for the losses he had sustained in making room
for the passengers and crew of the steamer. At no time,
before or after the repudiation of the contract, has Captain
Dixon made any claim upon the passengers of the Miranda
for the great service he had rendered them. Of their own
volition they started a subscription, to which the Miranda's
company contributed two hundred and fifty dollars, and
have forwarded him something over one -half the sum the
contract called for. This little volume has been issued in the
hope that the profits arising from its sale may at least amount
to a fair portion of the balance morally, if not legally, due to
the captain and crew of the Rigel.
After the agreements between the two captains had been
drawn up and witnessed by the first officer of the Miranda
and the two Governors of Sukkertoppen, preparations were
immediately made for the reception of the Miranda's passen
gers on board the Rigel. There were four bunks in the after-
cabin, which were reserved for the older members of our party.
A place was cleared in the after-hold, used mainly as a store
room for salt ; fifty hundredweight of salt was taken out, with
some lumber, and presented to the Eskimos, and $800 worth
of fishing tackle was thrown away, in order to make room for
our party. Thus a space was cleared about twenty feet long,
fifteen wide, and four feet high ; a door communicated with
the cabin, and in this space sleeping room for thirty passen
gers was divided off. The crew of the Rigel willingly turned
out of their quarters to make room for the Miranda's passen
gers, and all crowded into the forecastle.
The evening of August 20 was our last at Sukkertoppen.

108

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

Most of our party went over to pay their final respects to the
kind governors and their ladies, for it was arranged that we
should start on the following morning. As I came out of
the governors' house I found an Eskimo dance in progress
on a little square near the house. Two or three Eskimo girls
at once seized me and laughingly pulled me into the dance— a
very lively and energetic one — and so I jigged away for an

COMING TO SAY GOOD-BYE.
hour or more, to my own amusement and that of the Eskimos.
And how they do dance, these little people ! With their whole
bodies and with their whole souls. An Eskimo dance is a
scene of life, of rapid movement, of intense enjoyment. No
sad funereal faces, or bodies somberly clad in black, as if in deep
mourning for their folly or their sins, and moving dejected
ly and regretfully, among the jovial Eskimo men. And the

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

109

women, their lithe bodies clad in garments that give freedom
to every movement ; they do not appear to think that there is
any credit in being jolly at a dance. How they fling and swing
themselves about, dancing in perfect time — dancing all over,
from the tip-top of their waving, nodding top-knots to the
tips of their energetic little toes ! I should like to witness
with what Avonder, with what laughter, these little ladies would

A FAREWELL GLIMPSE.
look upon the sad- eyed swains at one of our fashionable balls.
They make the best of their surroundings, despite their hard
environment. Verily, verily, an Eskimo missionary might
teach us a feAV things.
The Eskimo dances are not national. European and
American whalers have been the dancing-masters, and so the
Eskimos can waltz and polka, but the reel they love best, and

110

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

a variety of reels they have made their own, and these have
assumed a certain national character.
It was cold and misty the next morning, and a fine drizzle
was falling. Canvas had been spread over the salt in the
after-hold of the schooner,
and over this we put our
mattresses side by side.
Each man had just his
mattress room, — that was
all, — and every bit of
space was taken up. On
account of the limited
space, we could bring only
a few necessaries on the
schooner. The little vessel
was but ninety-nine feet
long, and of one hundred
and seven tons burden.
To insure against sepa
ration in case of fog or in the darkness, it was decided that
the steamer should tow the schooner, so the two were con
nected with a cable line, and a system of signals was
arranged between the two captains, in order that they could
communicate in case of need or accident. It was hoped that
the Miranda could make the run to St. Johns with safety,
or at any rate that she could be run in somewhere on the
Labrador coast. At about ten o'clock we got under way.
The American flag Avas run up on our mainmast, and was
greeted Avith loud cheers. The Miranda being an English
ship, and sailing under a British charter, of course, flew
English colors, so now for the first time we were sailing under
the Stars and Stripes. We all removed our hats, though a
drizzling rain was falling, and sang in a swelling chorus the
"Star-Spangled Banner," and "My Country, 'tis of Thee."

R9HHH

GOVERNORS' HOUSE.

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

Ill

It was an impressive scene, and one that will always live in
my memory. Near us, in a large boat, rowed by Eskimos,
were the governors and their ladies, who had come to bid us
a final farewell. We gave them cheer upon cheer, which they
returned, and in which the Eskimo rowers joined. On shore
a solid phalanx of Eskimos was drawn up, rapidly firing part
ing salutes, and all about us the kayaks darted, and the
little kayakers waved us a last good-by. Gradually the Mi
randa towed us out of the harbor into the open sea, and
the mists fell about us, and the shores of Greenland were hid
den from our sight. And another mist, too, gathered in the
eyes of many a member of the expedition, straining his vision
to catch a last glimpse of a place that had become endeared to
us all by many acts of courtesy and kindness. There is a deep
pathos in a farewell when human beings whom chance has
brought together in the close companionship of strange places
look upon one another's faces for the last time, knowing that
in life they shall not meet again. Farewell — a long farewell to
the warm hearts in that stout little Danish house perched on the
cold and barren rocks of Greenland ; and farewell, too, to the
little people who gather near by and make the night merry
with dancing and laughter ! Somewhere — somewhere, when
the mists have all rolled away, may we meet again !

CHAPTER V.
- ., _ T H E r a i n
which began to
fall on the
morning we
started from
Sukkertoppencontinued to
fall for four
days with scarcely an intermission. There was no shelter to
seek on deck of any kind ; it was cold, wet, and disagreeable,
while below the air was so close and foul that it made most of
us seasick, so that we alternated between the devil and the deep
sea with a vengeance. A generous mixture of the odor of fish
and bilge-water in an overcroAvded apartment in the after-
hold combined to make the most powerful and, I think, the
most disagreeable smell that I have ever been subjected to.
To add to our misery, the hatchway, which supplied light
and air to the after-hold, had often to be closed on account of
the stormy weather, as for a great part of the time the waves
were washing all over our decks. In the night the extremely
close quarters, the foul odor, and the groans, to say nothing
of other noises, of the seasick ones, made us feel as if we had
descended into a veritable miniature inferno. But perpetual
adaptation to environment, says Spencer, is the law of life;
and, in accordance with this kindly law, we gradually grew
accustomed to our new surroundings, and our sense of smell
grew dull even to bilge- water.
Owing to the size of the schooner's cooking-stove, it was
impossible to prepare for so large a crowd more than two
meals a day, and these meals were necessarily limited to a

CAPTAIN GEORGE W. DIXON.

114

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

few articles of consumption. Salt beef, fish chowder, halibut
fins, potatoes, oatmeal, coffee, tea, and bread were the staple
articles of food and drink. We did not enjoy all these deli
cacies at any one time, of course, for the cook varied them
with excellent judgment. The cook, too, had a fine and epi
curean imagination, which helped us out not a little. For if,
like the Marchioness with her orange-peel and water, we all
made believe a good deal, and tried to live up to the cook's
romantic descriptions of his viands, we fared very sumptu
ously indeed. As he ladled out the solitary viand or two upon
the tin plates which served as an omnium gatherum and
passed them to a waiter standing at the entrance to his little
cock-pit, his cheery voice would ring out : " Pass round
the roast goose,
George; apple
sass, and a little
paddy de foi grass,
turkey, or chicken
fricasee, if the
gents prefer it !
Fill the glasses
with claret, then
pass round the
champagne — live
ly, George — live
ly! "etc. While
to offset this ro-
manticism the
realistic George
would shout in
stentorian tones : " One on the salt horse, without harness !
One on halibut fin ! " However, I noted comrades who were
epicures on shore picking at halibut fin with rare relish, for
there is no sauce like hunger-; and then, as the Marchioness

THE GOOD SHIP RIGEL.

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. H5
said, if you only make believe enough, orange-peel and water
is very nice indeed.
As only about fifteen of us could get into the little fore
castle, Avhich served both as a general dining-room and a
sleeping-room for the Rigel' s creAv, we managed to keep the
cook pretty busy ; in fact, the meals lasted the greater part
of the day. The forecastle was small, but it afforded a great
variety of motion ; for here the pitching and tossing of the
little vessel could be felt in full force. It was like being
tossed in a blanket almost, for at times a powerful jerk would
come from the Miranda along the tow-line that would seem
to send the little schooner flying in the air. But it was not
long before the steamer and the schooner were obliged to part
company — a thing which, judging from the strain on the
cable, they Avere perpetually endeavoring to accomplish.
On the second day out — August 23 — Ave encountered very
heavy swells, and we could see that the Miranda Avas rolling
badly. Hoav long the top of the ballast-tank could stand the
strain of so heavy a sea Avas a question that Avas answered
sooner than Ave anticipated. As darkness fell about us a red
light gleamed from the steamer's deck, indicating that trouble
was anticipated. At a feAV minutes after midnight three
shrieks came from the steamer's whistle in rapid succession.
This Avas the signal that she was in sore distress, and the red
light Avas hung over the stern as a warning for Captain Dixon
to be in readiness. The speed of the Miranda was slackened,
and as the two vessels came together Captain Farrell hailed
Captain Dixon to be ready, as the steamer was in a sinking
condition. Immediately Captain Dixon hailed back to him
to cut the cable and drop off in the boats, and that the Rigel
would pick them up. But Captain Farrell answered back
that he would try to stand by the ship until daylight. Cap
tain Dixon hailed again, begging Captain Farrell to take no
risks. The gains that salvage- would bring him appeared not

116

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

to influence him in the least ; his only thought was for the
safety of his felloAV-men upon the doomed ship, and his great
human heart beat in anxiety for them.
Shortly after eleven o'clock at night a fire had broken out

THE SECOND DAY OUT.
in the second cabin of the Miranda, and this had hardly been
extinguished when the chief engineer, Mr. Dibbs, reported
that the top of the water-ballast tank had given way under the
immense strain caused by the high sea. At the sight of water
rushing in the firemen stampeded to the deck in a panic, and
attempted to launch one of the lifeboats, but only succeeded
in smashing it against the iron sides of the ship. Captain
Farrell promptly restored order, and the firemen were sent
below again. The leaks in the tank were partially stopped
by means of pillows and mattresses stuffed into the holes;
but this was only a temporary expedient : the ship was

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIEANDA. 117
in a sinking condition, and the signals of distress Avere
given. From the deck of the Rigel Ave could dimly see prepara
tions going on aboard the Miranda for leaving the ship,
though sometimes Ave lost sight of her altogether in the hol
low of the sea. At the capstan of the schooner stood Captain
Dixon with a sharp axe in hand, ready to cut the hawser
that connected us with the Miranda should she suddenly
founder and sink. It was an anxious time for us on the
schooner, straining our eyes in the darkness upon the flaring
red light of the Miranda, ever appearing and disappearing as
the ship rolled in the heavy sea.
As the gray dawn began to streak the sky the first boat
load of the Miranda's crew came rowing over to the Rigel.
This contained the steward and several of his men, and as
soon as they were safe on board the boat Avas sent over to the
Miranda again, and three dories from the Rigel Avere also
launched. It was a sight long to be remembered, that of the
little boats plying between the disabled steamer and the
schooner, and bringing over the creAv in sections, and such
necessary baggage as could hastily be got together. The
boats rose and fell on the swelling sea, and Avere often lost to
view, only to rise again on the crest of some huge wave.
Wonderfully well managed were these little boats by some of
the gallant, stout-hearted sailors of the Rigel. No thought
of the prize noAv slipping aAvay from their grasp appeared
to influence them, but with hearty good-will they bent
to the oars, and carried their burdens of human freight,
while all unnecessary baggage they cast into the sea. For
space was very valuable upon the little schooner Rigel.
Shortly after five o'clock in the morning the last boat-load,
carrying Captain Farrell among others, arrived safely on
board the schooner. The hawser had been cast off from the
Miranda, and she was abandoned to her fate. Her lights

FROM A SKETCH BY A, P. ROGERS.

THE ABANDONMENT OF THE MIRANDA.

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 119
were still burning, her rudder had been lashed to one side,
and so, with steam on and her propeller going, she slowly
steamed away ; and the fog fell around her like a curtain,
and she was lost to sight for ever.
She might keep afloat for a few hours, but, according to
the chief engineer, she was a doomed ship. Soon such tem
porary repairs to stop leakage as had been made would give
way and the waters would close above her, and she with her
precious freight would join the mighty procession of wrecks
far down in the deep Avaters. The Miranda was abandoned
in latitude 61° 15', longitude 58° 40', 296 miles from Sukker
toppen. With the ship the members of the expedition lost all their
belongings except the few necessaries they had brought with
them on the schooner. Valuable ethnological and botanical
collections (over five thousand Arctic plants had been gath
ered), a great number of guns and scientific instruments, the
largest collection ever made of photographs of Arctic scenes
and people, and quantities of stuffed birds, seals, skins, etc., all
went down with the ill-fated ship. However, the saving of
our OAvn skins was matter for rejoicing, and the losses Avere
cheerfully accepted by all hands. If the Lord loves a cheer
ful giver, I hope a cheerful loser may also find favor. There
arose none of those bemoanings over spilled milk that are
often harder to put up with than the losses themselves.
There were now ninety-three souls on board our little
schooner. No time could be lost, and soon Captain Dixon
was sailing with all possible speed for Hamilton Inlet, on
the coast of Labrador, about 380 miles aAvay. But fogs,
head-winds, high seas, and icebergs combined to render the
journey dangerous and slow as well as uncertain. It was
decided to put in at the first feasible point on the Labrador
coast, then pass through the straits of Belle Isle, and
finally to land at Sydney, Cape Breton.

120 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
Provisions were getting very low, and it was discovered
that a portion of the crew of the Miranda who had been
lodged in the provision-hold had been systematically stealing
everything edible that they could lay their hands upon, and as
a consequence the larder stood in sad need of replenishment.
On August 25 the sun broke from the heavy clouds ;
Ave bathed in the sunshine for the first time since our start,
and the spirits of all rose accordingly. For two evenings
we had magnificent exhibitions of northern lights, and as the
clearer atmosphere revealed to us numbers of white gleam
ing icebergs, we realized the dangers we had been passing
through. On the morning of the 28th we sighted the coast
of Labrador, and as the weather was threatening it was
decided to make a harbor for the night. In the evening we
entered Punch Bowl harbor, about sixty miles south of
Rigolette. Punch Bowl is a little fishing settlement much
resembling Cape Charles. Two fishing schooners were lying
at anchor in this harbor : their occupants, as well as the
natives of the place, gazed with wonder at the swarms of
men crowding the decks of our little vessel ; and the
banners of the Cleveland Yacht Club and of Harvard and
Yale, Avhich we were flying, seemed also to puzzle them not a
little. When, however, they learned that Ave were a ship-
Avrecked party, they did not seem to evince much wonder or
curiosity. Shipwrecks are a matter of such common occur
rence in these regions. The most important character at
Punch Bovvl was a certain hard-featured old man, who Avas
called King Bryan. He controlled the fisheries and owned
the only store, so that he was monarch indeed of all he
surveyed, and ruled the place — so we were given to under
stand — with a rod of iron. We laid in a supply of fresh
codfish here, and left behind us five of the Miranda's
crew, who were to wait for a mail steamer to take them
to St. Johns, Newfoundland. They were our chief officer,

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

121

Mr. Manuel ; ice-pilot Dumphy, steward Farrell, and two
firemen. In the morning, as there was no breeze, three of the
dories, manned by members of the
Rigel crew, were sent ahead, and towed
us out from the sheltering harbor un
til we caught a breeze from the open
sea. Again the dense fog fell about
us, through which, every now and
then, the huge dim forms of icebergs
could be discerned. That night of
August 30 Avas an anxious one for all,
but especial
ly so for Cap
tain Dixon.
In the heavy
fog we some
times passed
so close to
icebergs that
we almost
grazed them,
and occasion
ally Ave could
hear sounds
like a can
nonade as
great pieces
of ice broke
from the
bergs and
fell into the
water. The next morning the fog scaled, and by noon we
had put into Henley harbor, within the straits of Belle Isle,

TOWING THE RIGEL.

122 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
to Avait for clearer skies and a more favorable wind ; also
to procure a further supply of provisions. In appearance,
Henley harbor was much like the other Labrador settlements
at which Ave had stopped, save for an enormous rock which

DEVIL'S DINING TABLE.
rose up from the vicinity of the village, and which looked
like a huge fort. It was flat at the top, and commanded
a fine vieAV of the harbor and of the surrounding country;
the rock is called the Devil's Dining Table, though where it
got this curious name I was unable to ascertain.
We remained at Henley harbor for tAvo days ; it rained
most of the time, and the fog Avas continual. On our second
and last evening I learned that a dance was in progress on
shore ; and so, with two or three companions, I rowed over to
attend it, having been instructed as to the whereabouts of
the house of entertainment by one of the sailors. It Avas a
dark, foggy night, and a fine, misty rain was falling. We
clambered up one of the little wharves, slippery and slimy
with fish, and then through a storehouse out into the open. It
is no easy matter to maintain one's footing in going over these

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

123

slippery wharves, and over the still more slippery floor of the
storehouses ; even the rocks about are slimy with fish-oil.
" O'er crag and fen " we went without so much as a kindly
light to guide us ; at length, after scrambling over numerous
large rocks, and picking our way as best we might over a bog,
we ascended a steep side-hill and looked about. It is difficult
to follow any given direction on a foggy night in Labrador,
and as we peered about us we could discern the lights of tAvo
or three houses or huts gleaming out in the fog and darkness ;
but as the feAV houses of the settlement were scattered over a
large area, we paused, not knowing which light to follow.
Suddenly a moving light gleamed below us ; it Avas a fisher-
lass with a lantern, and I hailed her, but she would not an
swer, being evidently frightened ; for she quickened her pace,
and was soon enveloped in the fog. Then a dog — evidently

HENLEY HARBOR.

a large one, from his growls — made advances, and I picked up
a large stone, and held a bit of hard-tack in my other hand,
ready to make friend or foe, as the case might be ; but after
considerable snarling the dog seemed to think better of us,

124 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
and retired. All of a sudden there arose a sound like the
stampede of a herd of frightened cattle, and as it proceeded
from a house in the dim distance, we knew that here must be
the dance, and so made for it. After scaling rocks and crawling
up and down wet and mossy side-hills, we at length found
ourselves directly under the house, which was built on piles,
and by crawling through a hole in the floor we made our en
trance into one corner of the ball-room. This novel mode
of entering did not appear to occasion any surprise, and
indeed we were lucky to enter thus unharmed among the
agile and vigorous dancers; for the floor creaked and groaned,
and the entire house appeared to rock and sway, with the sur
prising vigor of the dance. The men wore heavy-soled
boots, and every now and then as they jigged about they
would whirl their fair partners fairly off their feet. It was a
native Labrador dance — a combination of a round and square
dance — and the most uproarious and deafening, in its effects
upon the hearing, of any that I have ever attended, though
we had some lively dances among the Eskimos. The orchestra
was composed of a fiddler and a performer on a mouth-organ
who blew loudly, fiercely, and somewhat independently of
his coadjutor. The room was bare of any furniture, and a
few lanterns hung from the ceiling ; there were only three or
four of the fair sex present, and these, of course, were in great
demand. The room was mainly filled Avith sailors, fisher
men, and tobacco smoke — a very motley group indeed ; but
as neither dance nor music varied much, we soon grew tired
and made our way back to the schooner.
Next morning, September 2, the breeze was fair — at last—
and we got off at about six o'clock. Shortly after our start
we counted about twenty icebergs within sight. All day long
the breeze freshened, until by night we had a regular gale, and
for several hours we were obliged to lay to under a triple-
reefed forsesail and forestay sail. The hatchways had to be

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

125

closed ; and, to add to our discomfort, the stove in the little
cabin just in front of our sleeping-apartment in the salt store
room began to pour out volumes of smoke that almost choked
us. One wise individual suggested that salt be thrown on
the fire to put it out ; the suggestion was acted upon, and
immediately several shovelfuls of salt were thrust into the
stove; then there issued forth clouds of smoke ten times more

HOMEWARD BOUND.
deadly and terrible than before, and as every one gasped for
breath many were the invectives hurled at the head of the un
fortunate man who had suggested this method of putting out
a fire. Had he been turned, like Lot's wife, into a pillar of salt,
I think we should have all rejoiced. However, gradually
the nuisance abated, and although the odor abided Avith
ns all night and fought with the fish and bilge-water for

126 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
supremacy, yet, being hardened sinners, we were enabled to
snatch some sleep despite the gale and the closeness of our
quarters. A small party near me, huddled together in sitting
postures, kept me awake for a while by an earnest discussion
of the effect of salt upon fire, as if it had not been sufficiently
demonstrated. One man in particular advanced his argu
ments in an almost continuous stream. His extraordinary
volubility had a certain fascination about it, and I could not
choose but hear. At length, in a dreamy state, I gave myself
up to the purely sensuous enjoyment of watching his jaws
wag, and so fell asleep.
The next day the storm abated, and on this day and the
next we passed a number of small fishing schooners, many of
them within hailing distance. The first question invariably
was : " Who have you got aboard ? " and the next, " How
many fish have you ? " We were nearing Sydney, and the
news of the wreck of the Miranda had evidently reached
there. We were cheered here and there by a passing schooner
on our identity becoming known, and on the morning of
September 5 we entered, at last, with all our colors flying, the
harbor of Sydney, after a remarkable voyage of fifteen days.
The story of our journey from Sukkertoppen to Sydney is
so well told in Captain Dixon's log, which immediately follows
this narrative, that I have purposely left out many particulars,
in order to avoid vain repetitions. The familiar fog was still
with us when we again dropped anchor in the harbor of Syd
ney, and a drizzling rain was falling ; but this could not dampen
our enthusiasm. It was a wild-looking party that rushed on
North Sydney's shore that day, yet a most hilarious and joy
ous one. A bee-line Avas made for the post-office and cable
station, and many were the messages sent to anxious ones at
home telling of our safe arrival. A dinner for all hands had
been arranged for at the Sydney Hotel, in Sydney proper, in
the evening, and a committee was despatched to confer with

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

127

Colonel Granger and have everything in readiness. A mot
ley crowd we were as we started for Sydney in two small
steamers. The rain was falling heavily by this time, and
many of the party were decked out in yellow oilskins which
had seen much service, so that from
a distance they looked not unlike a
flock of dirty canary-birds. Then there ,
were others arrayed in a variety of
Aveather-beaten garments that had not
been changed or taken off since the
Miranda had faded r
i nto the mist. Many
of the party carried

SYDNEY POST-OFFICE.
all their worldly possessions done up in gunny sacks. The
parade along the streets of Sydney up to the hotel, about
four blocks from the wharf, was a joyous and picturesque
one. No tougher-looking gang of men ever marched over that
quiet thoroughfare. One party of college students marched
in a solid phalanx, chanting an original adaptation of the
familiar " Hark, hark, the dogs do bark," etc., in this wise :

128

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

" Hark, hark ! the dogs do bark,
The wild men are coming to town —
Some in rags, and some with jags,
And some with eider-down."
For a few eider-down quilts had been saved from the spoils.
The dinner at the Sydney Hotel was indeed " a happy
time," as Captain Dixon remarks in his log. The two cap
tains, Dixon and Farrell, were the heroes of the occasion ;
and the excellent repast, gotten up under the special super
vision of the genial presiding genius of the hotel, Colonel

SYDNEY HOTEL-MORNING AFTER THE DINNER.
Granger, was to us, after our limited meals on the schooner,
a veritable feast of the gods. The dining-hall was draped
with American and English flags, and with the flags of the
Cleveland Yacht Club and of Harvard and Yale— the ban-

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 129
ners that we had borne through mist and snow and ice.
It was a gala night, and many were the speeches, songs, and
toasts that were called out by the toast-master, Mr. James D.
Dewell, of New Haven, who presided in a most happy man
ner. The banquet broke up at about midnight, and then
fareAvells began to be said, for many of the party took early
trains and scattered in various directions.
A large remnant of the party, however, waited to take the
little steamer St. Pierre, which, through the courtesy of Bow-
ring & Archibald, owners of the late Miranda, was sent to
Sydney to take the party to Halifax, there to meet the steamer
Portia, a sister ship of the Miranda, and thence to go on to
New York.
With three cheers for our host, Colonel Granger, we left
the comfortable Sydney Hotel and boarded the St. Pierre,
the following morning. A snug, nice little ship she was, and
we enjoyed immensely the trip to Halifax. We landed at
this city on the afternoon of September 7, and found the Por
tia waiting for us, and immediately boarded her and were
assigned staterooms. The Portia, however, was not to start
for New York until ten o'clock the folloAving morning, so
we put in the time very agreeably in seeing the sights and
surroundings of the beautiful city of Halifax. Here we pro
cured New York and Boston papers several days old, which
stated that the Miranda and its passengers and crew were
probably lost ; but we knew that by this time our despatches
from Sydney must have been published, and that our relatives
and friends were assured of our safety. It was like reading
one's own obituary notice to glance over the sensational
prognostications of our probable doom.
Promptly at ten o'clock on the morning of September 8
we started for NeAv York, feeling that our adventures and
dangers were a thing of the past ; and yet on this short and
generally uneventful trip occurred the real tragedy of our

130 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
remarkable summer's outing. We started with bright and
clear skies overhead ; but it was not long before the long-
familiar fog that had dogged us everywhere overtook us
here. On the evening of the 9th a heavy fog descended
and hung about us, now scaling, now falling again, and
continued on the following day. We were in familiar waters
off Cutty hunk Light, and were assembled at the lunch- table
at about one o'clock on the 10th. The curtain of fog had
descended again; suddenly we heard the signal for reversing
the engine, and the next moment we crashed into some
heavy object, followed immediately by a noise as if the ship
were crunching and tearing its way through some obstruction;
then the Portia stood still and trembled. It was not such
a crash as when we struck the iceberg ; nor, again, such a
one as we had experienced when upon the rocks off Sukker
toppen, but it was ominous enough to presage danger.
The lunch-table was quickly deserted, and on deck a scene
of pitiful disaster revealed itself. We had run into a schooner
and literally cut her in two, and a portion of her bow, with
foremast and rigging, was lying across our deck. The fog
had lifted as if by magic ; for a moment we could see the
stern of the schooner lifted high in air, and upon its taffrail
were two men cutting away at the yawl ; then the remnant of
the schooner plunged into the sea and sank instantly. No
other men were seen, and the rest of the crew must have been
knocked overboard or sunk with the bow. As the vessel
sank but one man came to the surface, afterward found to be
the mate. He swam among the debris, and, finally reaching
a spar, managed to keep afloat until rescued by a boat from
the Portia. The other man whom we saw seemed unable to
keep his head above water, but we could see him striking out
under water, as if endeavoring to reach the surface ; the suc
tion was evidently too strong for him, and before our eyes he
was dragged down into the sea and lost to sight. The mate,

132 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
when brought aboard, was almost exhausted with his efforts,
and was badly bruised. From him we learned that the
schooner Avas called the Dora M. French, and that she hailed
from Bangor, Me. The captain, the steward, and two sailors
had gone down with the ship.
The Portia had also suffered considerable damage. Her
foretopmast was dislodged and forty feet of rail lost. A hole was
stove in the starboard bow just below the water-line, and the
forward compartment filled with water. However, the damage
was not serious enough to endanger her in any way. For an
hour or so she lay to, and then slowly steamed onward on her
way. Meantime her boats had been busy among the debris
of the schooner, but not a vestige of the crew could be
found. At last, early on the following morning of September 11,
we reached New York, and our remarkable trip was over.
Within the short space of barely two months we certainly had
experienced an extraordinary series of adventures. " Sweet
is the pleasure after pain," and it is pleasant now to look back
over the hardships and varied experiences that we encoun
tered. Indeed, to have stood even at the outposts of the
great and wonderful Arctic regions is ample compensation for
the dangers and hardships that had been experienced. It is
impossible to describe the beauties and revelations of these
little-known regions — so different from the beaten paths of
the ordinary traveller, or from any common experiences — that
words are lacking in our vocabulary for any adequate descrip
tion. Even the camera can do but scant justice ; true, in a
certain sense, but reducing vast expanses and towering ice
bergs and glaciers and snow-capped mountains to such micro
scopic proportions as to give but faint ideas of the real
grandeur and impressiveness of Arctic scenery. Longfellow,
in one of his finest ballads, tells how the noble Count Ar-
noldos, standing on the shore, beholds a stately galley steer-

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 133
ing toward the land, and hears the helmsman chant a song of
the sea, wild and clear and wonderful :
Till his soul was full of longing,
And he cried with impulse strong, —
" Helmsman ! for the love of heaven,
Teach me, too, that wondrous song ! "
" Wouldst thou," — so the helmsman answered, —
" Learn the secret of the sea ?
Only those who brave its dangers
Comprehend its mystery ! "
And only by braving the dangers of the Arctic regions can
one comprehend their mysteries.
The season of 1894 was a particularly disastrous one for
Arctic expeditions of any kind. Peary and Wellman and
Jackson were all baffled by it ; so little wonder if we did not
attain, except partially, the objects of our much less ambitious
enterprise. Since this disastrous season there has been a wide
spread cry of Cui bono ? as regards Arctic expeditions in gen
eral. A senseless cry it is, coming from those who have given
the subject no adequate consideration. There is scarcely a
department of human knowledge that does not owe a deep
debt to the baffled heroic men who have struggled to reach
the Pole. They have given lessons to the world in patience,
self-sacrifice, and heroic endurance. If as yet they have not
attained their ultimate object, they have attained still larger
results in extending the domains of science, of geographical
knowledge, of civilization and commerce. If we justly honor
our great historians, shall we not honor these men who have
given us new chapters in a greater, larger history than that of
man — the history of the world, the history of the universe ?
This material age should at least recognize the material
benefits that have followed in the wake of Arctic explorations.
The cod fisheries of Newfoundland, the whale fisheries of the
Northern Hemisphere, the great fur industries, which have

134 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
added millions upon millions of dollars every year to the wealth
of the world — all these have been opened up by hardy Arctic
explorers. But not yet has the world learned to appreciate
the great work that has been done by the soldiers of science,
or their bloodless victories, of vaster importance to the race
than a Waterloo or a Sedan. The records of their victories are
known only to the few, are unheeded by the many. The man
of blood is still the world's hero. In England to-day the sol
dier who has won the greatest honors, and applause, and great
wealth, has done little else than to slaughter some savage men
and make them bow to a foreign yoke ; but he has spilled
human blood, and so his name has resounded from shore to
shore. For, as in the old gladiatorial days, the thumbs of the
cruel populace are still reversed, and the sacrifice of human
blood is demanded as the price of its applause. Not yet have
the great soldiers of science received their meed of apprecia
tion ; but when "the war-drum throbs no longer, and the
battle-flags are furled," then will the world more fully under
stand the debt it owes to such men.
Itisno vain ambition that leads theexplorer into far north
ern latitudes, but a higher motive — a desire to comprehend
the vast economy of this planet, to read its geological history,
and to give the results of his labors to his felloAV-men. Until
the thirst for knowledge and the love of adventure is dead in
the human heart, the Arctic regions will still attract explorers
to its vast silences.

CAPTAIN DIXON'S LOG.

From August 16 to September 5, 1894..

Nepisat, August 16, 1894. — About 4 p. m. came in
to get a dory that we had landed here, intending to go to
Cape Amelia. A native Eskimo came alongside, and by signs
and broken English made us understand that Ave should
go to Holsteinborg, that an American vessel had struck a
rock and stove a hole in her bottom. After many questions
he said it was an American man-o'-war. We took the kayak
on board, and he showed us three letters. One was addressed
to Captain Lawson, of schooner Carrie W. Babson, and the
other two were addressed to captains of American fishing ves
sels. I opened one of these, and read the following letter
from Dr. Frederick A. Cook :
" Holsteinboko, Greenland, August 16, 1894.
' ' To Captains of American Fishing Schooners.
" Gentlemen : — TheS.S. Miranda, carrying my expedition, with
seventy persons on board, has struck a sunken rock coming out of
Sukkertoppen ; she is now lying at that harbor disabled and in distress
Will you kindly come to our rescue? I am at Holsteinborg with
five of the members of my party. Shall remain there until onef week
from date ; then return to Sukkertoppen. If this note reaches you
in time to meet me at Holsteinborg kindly do so ; if not, come
direct to Sukkertoppen, and send a note by kayak at once to Hol
steinborg. " Fkedeeick A. Cook,
" Commanding."
I immediately made sail and started for Holsteinborg,
but the wind fell off before Ave could reach the mouth of the
fiord. Seeing that Ave could do nothing Avith the vessel, with

136 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
a calm and fog setting in, I left the schooner in charge of my
brother Will, to take her back to Nepisat, while I took a
dory and four men to row to Holsteinborg, a distance of about
eleven miles. We arrived there about ten o'clock at night.
On entering the harbor Ave were greeted by the Eskimos, who
informed us that Dr. Cook was at the governor's house, and
we were escorted there by the entire settlement of Eskimos.
I found Dr. Cook and his party, and he informed me that
together with five Eskimos they had made the passage in an
open boat from Sukkertoppen to Holsteinborg, a distance of
ninety-five miles, or one hundred and forty miles, as they
had to row it along the coast. They had arrived at Holstein
borg the day before, after a stormy passage of five days. Dr.
Cook said that their steamship, the Miranda, of Liverpool,
England, had struck a rock while going out of Sukkertoppen,
and that there was a leak in her bottom that let the water
into the tank for water-ballast ; the tank had quickly filled
with water, and the pumps could not reduce it. The ship
would float as long as the tank could bear the strain of the
pressure thus brought to bear upon it, but if the tank should
burst the ship would sink immediately. Dr. Cook wanted a
vessel to convey the passengers to some place of communic a-
tion with their homes, and some one to accompany the ship
to some place where she could be repaired. He had a letter
from Captain W. J. Farrell, of the S. S. Miranda, which ran as
follows : " Sukkertoppen, South Greenland, August 10, 1894.
" To Whom it May Concern.
Dkar Sir :— The steamer Miranda, of Liverpool, England, from
New York, with Dr. Frederick A. Cook's Arctic expedition, struck
a sunken rock seven miles southwest of this harbor. The ship is
making water. Dr. Cook is going to you for immediate assistance,
which please send, as we are in distress.
" Yours truly,
" Captain W. J. Farrell,
" Master of S.S. Miranda."

CAPTAIN DIXON'S LOG. 137
As Dr. Cook had no authority to make a bargain that
would recompense us for our loss sustained by leaving the
fishing-grounds, or the risk that would be incurred by us in
making a departure from our regular fishing voyage, I hardly
knew what to do. Common humanity required that we
should go to the relief of our fellows in distress, while on
the other hand our voyage was likely to be a prosperous
one if we stuck to our fishing. We had a crew of eighteen
men, all on shares, and I felt as though they should have
a voice in the matter before I would make any departure
from our voyage. Sukkertoppen was ninety-five miles from
Holsteinborg. The harbor was small, and the approach to
it was encompassed by rocks. Our charts were little better
than none. There were numerous icebergs all along the
route, and a dense fog prevailed most of the time, with a
very strong, irregular current setting along the coast, and in
and out of the fiords. The land was strange to us (none of
us having seen that part of the coast before), and if anything
should happen to our vessel we should have to forfeit all
right to our insurance on the vessel and the fish we had
caught. I told Dr. Cook that I would go on board and
consult with the crew, and if I decided to go to Sukker
toppen I would run up off Holsteinborg and set the flag for
him to come off in his boat. We left Holsteinborg about
2 a. m., August 17, and arrived at Nepisat at 5 a. m. I
called the crew into the cabin and explained the case to
them, and asked them if we should go to Sukkertoppen.
One of the crew asked me if I was willing to go, and I said I
was. He said then, "I am willing to go, for you have more
at stake than we have." That seemed to be the opinion of
all the crew, and we got under way and started for Hol
steinborg with a light air from the eastward. At 9 A. M. we
reached the mouth of the fiord, and set our flag (being then
about eight miles from Holsteinborg). Soon after leaving

J.OO J.n.Ej Jj-ZlO-L un.u±on V.C ijir. Ji-J-XIAJSI^A.
the fiord, and about two miles off of the land, we strucK
a sunken rock, and after bumping several times she came off,
and we beat up off Holsteinborg. At 4 p. m. the boat came
off, and we kept off with a good northeast breeze. At 8 p. m.
the wind hauled to the westward with a strong breeze and
a thick fog.
August 18. — Strong breeze, westerly. At 11 A. m. it cleared
a little and we saw the coast. By 3 p. m. we had worked as
far as Old Sukkertoppen. At 4 p. m. took in our mainsail
and jib and set the storm trysail. At 8 P. M. took in trysail
and put single reef in foresail. Had it rather rough for com
fort during the night.
August 19.— A.t 8 A. m. the fog cleared a little and we
saw land. Set the trysail and began to work down shore.
In the afternoon it began to moderate, and we set the jib and
single reef mainsail. At 5 P. m. set the staysail and flying
jib. At 9 p. m. we were off Sukkertoppen, and we jogged
off and on until daylight.
August 20. — As soon as it began to get light we tacked
and made for the harbor. At 8 A. M. an Eskimo pilot came
on board and informed me that I was inside of the sunken
rocks and in a fair way for the harbor. Shortly after that we
were met by a lot of native kayakers. There also came two boats
belonging to the Miranda, in one of which was the master, Cap
tain W. J. Farrell. I told Captain Farrell that I would for the
sum of four thousand dollars take the passengers and carry
them to Gloucester, or some place where they could get trans
portation home, providing they would furnish provisions. Cap
tain Farrell and Dr. Cook informed me that they would furnish
plenty of provisions, and that they considered the terms mod
erate and reasonable. So the bargain was accepted by Cap
tain W. J. Farrell. Captain Farrell then asked me if I would
accompany the ship to some port where she could be repaired.
The object of this was to be ready to rescue the crew in case

CAPTAIN DIXON 8 LOG. 139
the ship should have to be abandoned. He thought that I
could accompany the ship in the interest of the underwriters.
I told him that I would do so, and we agreed to leave the
amount of recompense to arbitration. Having arrived at the
harbor, we dropped our anchor and hauled alongside of the
Miranda, and began at once to make what hasty preparations
we could to accommodate the passengers. During the after
noon I made out the two papers of agreements, and in the
evening we took them to the governors' house, where we signed
them, and they were signed, witnessed, and sealed by the
Governor, and signed and witnessed by the Assistant Governor
and the chief mate of steamer Miranda.
Copy of Articles op Agreement.— No. 1.
Sukkertoppen, Greenland, August 20, 1894.
Whereas, The steamer Miranda being in a disabled condition, it
is agreed between her master, Captain W. J. Farrell, and Captain
Geo. W. Dixon, master of the Gloucester fishing schooner Rigel, that
the passengers of the steamer Miranda be transferred on board the
schooner Rigel, and carried to Gloucester, and that the crew and
owners receive from the owners and agents of the steamer Miranda
the sum of $4,000 as recompense for breaking up the fishing expedi
tion of said sehooner. W. J. Farrell, Master SS, Miranda.
Geo. W. Dixon, Master Schooner Rigel.
Geo. Manuel, Chief Officer SS. Miranda.
Witness :
S. Bistrup, Governor.
G. Baumann, Governor's Assistant.

Copy of Articles of Agreement. — No. 2.
Sukkertoppen, Greenland, August 20, 1894.
Whereas, The steamer Miranda being in a disabled condition, it
is agreed between her master, Captain W.J. Farrell, and Captain
Geo. W. Dixon, master of the Gloucester fishing schooner Rigel, that
the said schooner Rigel shall accompany the said steamer Miranda
into some convenient port of repair. The crew of said schooner
Rigel will hold themselves in readiness to rescue the crew and the

140 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
officers of steamer Miranda, in case the steamer shall founder or
have to be abandoned ; and it is agreed that the recompense for
such accompanying the steamer shall be settled by arbitration, or by
mutual agreement between the agents of schooner Rigel and the
underwriters of said steamer Miranda at the port of New York.
W. J. Farrell, Master SS. Miranda.
Geo. W. Dixon, Master Schooner Rigel.
Geo. Manuel, Chief Officer SS. Miranda.
Witness :
G. S. Bistrup, Governor.
G. Baumann, Governor's Assistant.
At Sukkertoppen I found things substantially as the letter
had stated. The steamer Miranda was an iron ship of be
tween eleven and twelve hundred tons. She had struck a
sunken rock off Sukkertoppen, and had evidently stove a
large hole in her bottom, in a position where it let the water
into the tank that was constructed to carry Water-ballast, and
the tank had almost immediately filled with water that forced
through the hole. Thus the whole strain of the bearings of
the ship upon the water was brought to bear upon the tank.
A survey had been held and the vessel pronounced not
safe to carry the crew or passengers. There were no means
to repair the damage on the coast of Greenland, and the sur
vey had shown that it was advisable that the passengers be
transferred to some other vessel, and that some vessel should
be secured to accompany the vessel to some port of repair, for
if the tank should prove strong enough, the vessel would
probably go safe.
In order to make room for the passengers, we took out
about fifty hundredweight of salt, which we gave to the
Eskimos, together with a lot of lumber and miscellaneous
other things, to the value of about $85 altogether, and thus
we obtained a space in the after-hold, on the salt, of about
fifteen feet in length and twenty feet in width, and four feet
in height. A door connected this with the cabin, and it was

CAPTAIN DIXON S LOG. 141
decided that the passengers occupy this space and the cabin,
and that the crew should occupy the forecastle. We then
spread sails on top of the salt, and mattresses on the sails,
thus making snug but quite comfortable quarters, reaching
forward to underneath the after-hatch. Forward of this was
our fish, occupying a length of about twelve feet, leaving a
space forward and under the main hatch of about twelve feet
long, where we carried our water and provisions, and also our
traAvl and bony lines. This being completed, the passengers
came on board on the morning of August 21.
In order to insure against a separation in case of a fog
or in the darkness, Ave decided that the steamer should tow
the schooner, so we used our one hundred and fifty fathoms
of neAV cable as a tow-line, and arranged a few signals betAveen
myself and Captain Farrell, so we could have some little com
munication in case of need or accident. As we would require
more room in case we had to take off the crew of the
Miranda, we decided to put some of our trawl gear on board
of the steamer before we left Sukkertoppen, so we put our
sixty trawl anchors, valued at $43.20, and fifty-three trawl
buoys, valued at $63, on board the steamer.
This finished our preparations, and we got under way in
the morning of August 21, and with flags flying and the Es
kimos cheering us and firing guns we proceeded out to sea
with the passengers singing " My Country, 'tis of Thee."
August 21. — At 10.30 A. m. we took our departure from
Sukkertoppen, and steered west by our compass. The wind
wasS.S.W., with a fresh breeze, and drizzly. We had our try
sail and foresail set, and were making seven and one-half knots
per hour. We passed numerous icebergs all day. The wind
freshened until midnight. It blew a strong breeze then ;
fell off by 4 A. m. to a fresh breeze on the morning of
August 22.
August 22. — Swell from south, with misty rain and indi-

142 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
cations of a storm at noon. The log showed 192 knots
made since leaving Sukkertoppen, and I communicated
this to Captain Farrell. By 7 P. m. the wind hauled to
S.S.E., and increased to a moderate gale with a rising
sea. At 10 P. m. a sea heaving in on our port side. Onr
vessel is crowded, Ave having on board sixty men, includ
ing our crew, and Ave have to keep off our hatch to get
ventilation. The Miranda is carrying her lifeboats swung
loose to the davitts, ready to drop them at an instant's notice.
To-night the captain has a red light on deck. At 11 p. m.
the wind seems to moderate a little. At midnight I hauled
the log, and it showed 289 knots since leaving Sukkertoppen.
August 23. — At ten minutes past 12, midnight, the
steamer Miranda sounded her whistle three blasts, that
being the signal that she was in a sinking condition, and
soon after they hung the red light over the stern as a
signal for me to be ready. Captain Farrell slackened the
speed of the Miranda, and as the two vessels came close to
gether he hailed me to be ready, as he was in a sinking con
dition. I hailed him to cut our cable, and drop off in his
boats, and we would pick them up. He said that he would
try to hold by the steamer until daylight. There was a very
heavy sea running from the southeast. Captain Farrell let
the steamer come to head the sea, and when she was in the
hollow of the sea we could see her masts at times. As soon
as it was light he sent a boat with part of his men, and the
boat then made three more trips, Avhile we launched three
dories that made from two to three trips each, thus taking off
the crew and the officers and considerable provisions. Cap
tain Farrell came off in the last boat, and before he left he
cast off our tow-line, and the Miranda was soon out of sight
in the dense fog. The ship was abandoned at 5.30 A. m. in
latitude 61° 15' N. and longitude 58° 40' W. The barometer
stood at 28.80 after the last boat came alongside of it. The

CAPTAIN DIXON'S LOG. 143
crew and the officers of the Miranda numbered thirty-three
men, making us ninety-three men all told, and in order to
make room for them in the main hold I was compelled to
take off the main hatch and throw overboard the remainder
of our trawl gear, consisting of
32 sheets or bundles of trawl, valued at  $257.60
3,200 fathoms of bony line " "  32.00
1 oil barrel " "  1.50
With considerable rigging, etc. " "  15.00
$306.10
Captain Farrell sent from the steamer two bundles contain
ing silverware, and two chronometers, and two sextants, and
some lanterns, and the crew saved their clothes. The silver,
chronometers, and sextants, and the captain's clothing, were
put in the cabin, but the lanterns were left on deck, because
there was no room for them below. Captain Farrell and his
creAV were wet and draggled when they reached our vessel.
I told the crew to spread their clothes in the main hold, so as
to make a sort of field bed, and into this we packed all of the
crew that we could put in, and then put on the hatch and
barred it. After heaving in cable we made sail under our
trysail and foresail and fore staysail and jib, and "steered
southwest, to try to gain Hamilton Inlet, on the coast of
Labrador, that place being about 380 miles off. At 8 p. m.
the wind died out, and we took in the foresail to keep it
from slating to pieces.
August 21. — At 1 A. m. light air S.W., barometer 28.80,
very heavy swell from S.E. Hoisted the sail, hauled the log,
which showed 40 knots made since the steamer was aban
doned. At 8 A. M. light air west, made sail and set main
sail and staysail, heading S.S.W. Barometer on 28.88. At
9.30 wind freshened to fresh breeze. At 12, log showed
76 knots. W.N.W. strong breeze. Got a peep at the sun

144 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
this afternoon, which showed schooner to be in longitude
57° 55' W.
August 25.— At 2.20 A. M. got latitude by North Star 58°
5' N. Log on 95 knots. At 4 A. m. wind hauled southwest
erly. Log on 5 knots, showing us to have made 205 knots
since steamer was abandoned. At 8 A. m. wind S.W.; tacked
ship in latitude 57° 40', longitude 56° 45'. This is our first
fine day, and the people are enjoying themselves sitting about
on deck. There is a light air from the S.W., and but little
progress has been made to-day. The barometer has been up
to 29.50. At 6 p. m. the clouds show signs of rain, with fre
quent puffs of wind from the southward. At 8 p. m. it began
to rain, and continued in floods all night.
August 26. — At 3.30 A. m. the wind ceased, and the wind
nauled Avith a clearing sky in the westward. The barometer
fell to 29.40. At 7.30 A. m. longitude by observation 56° 56'
W. The log on 30 knots ; fine breeze northwest. At noon
latitude by observation 56° 40' N. Passed by numerous ice
bergs all day. In the afternoon the wind fell off and hauled
to S.W., with light airs all night.
August 28. — At 8 a. m. sighted the coast of Labrador bear
ing W.N. AY., and we took the liberty bell on deck and rang
it; at noon got observation 53° 32' N., and found the land to
be Spotted Island. We had the wind S.S.W. and threatening
weather, and decided to make a harbor for the night. We
spoke a schooner and got a pilot from it for five dollars to
guide us into the Punch Bowl Harbor, where we arrived at
5.30 p. m. and filled water before dark.
August 29. — At 8 A. m. light air from the westAvard, and we
got under way and proceeded to sea, towing the vessel with
dories until we were clear of the harbor at 11.30 A. M. Five
of the Miranda's crew were left at Punch Bowl : the chief
mate, Mr. Manuel ; the pilot, Mr. Dumphy ; the steward, Mr.
Farrell, and two firemen. We had it moderate all day and night,

CAPTAIN DIXON'S LOG. 145
with a dense fog. Saw the icebergs in the night. The day
after we got outside of the harbor Messrs. Dove and Porter
and Brown took a dory and, rowing among the fishing boats,
procured a nice lot of fresh codfish, and Ave had a fine fish
chowder. August. SO — Calm in the forenoon, and light breeze in the
afternoon. Thick fog all day. Passed numerous icebergs,
some of them very close. To-day we discovered that the
sailors of the Miranda had stolen our case of condensed milk,
and I decided that, as a punishment, they should hereafter
eat at the last table in the afternoon. We saw a great many
icebergs, and at 5 P. m. we heard the breakers on shore, and
we tacked and stood off.
August SI. — At 4 p. m. the fog scaled, and we saw Belle
Isle bearing S.W. about ten miles. Saw a small schooner
bound to Green Bay, N. F., and told it to report us. Strong
breeze. We counted ten icebergs in sight at once. At noon
Ave took a pilot and went into Henley's Harbor, paying four
dollars to the pilot, which was raised by a tarpolan muster,
and the passengers bought lots of fresh codfish, while I bought
a barrel of herring. At 8 p. m. I went on shore, and had a fish
dinner in company with Captain Farrell, Commodore Gardner,
Dr. Valle, Mr. Cleveland, Mr. Clover, Mr. Dewell, and Mr.
Dibbs. Dr. Cook bought some provisions.
September 2. — The fog cleared off during the night, and
as soon as it was daylight we got our pilot to take us out of
the harbor. Got outside at 5.30 A. M. Wind west. Counted
sixteen icebergs in sight at once just outside the harbor. At
9 A. M., calm. At noon the wind breezed out to westward,
with rain. Passed a number of icebergs to-day. At 6 a. m.,
strong breeze E. by N. Took in mainsail and jib, and set
trysail. Wind increasing. At 10 P. M. rope started off on the
foresail, and we hauled it doAvn and repaired it as well as
possible, and put three reefs in it and set it, and then steered

146 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
W. by N. to smoother water, under the lee of the Labrador
coast, as the wind was hauling to the northward. We had a
very disagreeable night. Our stove would not draw, and we
had to put the fire out, leaving it cold and damp and disa
greeable. HoAyever, our passengers stood it like martyrs.
September S.—kt 4 p. M. we met a steamer going
ward ; had a very sharp cross sea. Took in the trysail to let
the stove draw, and built a fire in the cabin. At 6 A. M. shook
the reef out of the foresail and put in a small reef. At 8 A. m.
set the trysail and jib. At noon shook the reef out of the
foresail. The wind being N.N.W., steered W.S.W. since
8 A. m. At 4 P. m. set mainsail and staysail, and set the
course southwest, holding a good breeze all night. Last night
Professor Brewer got a severe fall, caused by a lurch of the
vessel that threw him on the cabin floor. Dr. Valle and Dr.
Cook attended him, and found some bruises, not necessarily
serious. September 4. — At 4 a. m. got latitude by North Star, 48°
13' N. At daylight saw Cape Anquilla bearing S.S.E. At
9 a. m. saw Cape North, C. B., bearing S.W. Had a fine
breeze until up with White Point. At 4 p. m. the wind fell
off, nearly calm. At 8 A. m. we were off Ingamish Island,
and the wind hauled to the S.W., with fog and rain that
lasted all night.
September 5. — At 1 a. m. we saw Sydney light to wind
ward, and after beating up, we entered Sydney harbor at 5
A. M., and got in and anchored about 7 A. m. Captain Farrell
and Dr. Cook and myself went ashore, and I called at the
residence of the Custom-house officer. He gave me permission
to get any provisions that we might need, also permission for
any of the passengers to go ashore to the hotels, which they
were not long in doing, most of the passengers having
declared their intention that they would go home by some
other conveyance. At 2 p. m. the Custom-house officer came

CAPTAIN DIXON'S LOG. 147
on board, and the passengers and creAv of the Miranda were
allowed to cake their effects on shore. In the evening Cap
tain Farrell and myself were invited to South Sydney, by the
passengers, to a grand supper in the Sydney Hotel. I need
not say that we accepted the invitation, and that it was a
happy time that we could well appreciate after being huddled
together as we had been for the last fifteen days.

ATMOSPHERIC DUST IN THE ARCTIC
REGION'S.

BY PROFESSOR AVILLIAM H. BREWER.

The atmosphere always con
tains dust, and the phenomena
relating to it have long been a
subject of much interest to me.
It is obvious that the air of the
Arctic regions must be much less
dust-laden than our own ; there
fore, during our trip to Greenland
I made such observations on the
related phenomena as were prac
ticable without the use of special
instruments. The dust (including smoke) in
the atmosphere is generally spoken of as an impurity or
pollution. It renders the air less transparent, and is the source
of various diseases and ailments of both mankind and animals.
In this sense it is an impurity. It may also be so considered
in the sense that it is not gas, but consists of solid particles
suspended in a gaseous medium. In another sense it is not
an impurity, but rather a permanent constituent of the
atmosphere, always and everywhere present. It is also not
an impurity in the sense that as a constituent of the air it
plays an essential part in many meteorological phenomena.
It varies enormously in its quantity, its fineness, its origin, its
chemical composition, and in its effects, but is never entirely
absent.

ATMOSPHERIC DUST IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 149
The relation of the suspended dust-particles to various at
mospheric phenomena has been the subject of much recent
study, and each year adds to its interest. It is scarcely more
than twenty years since Tyndall showed its biological impor
tance as being the active cause of ordinary fermentation and
putrefaction, and also as causing the blue color of the sky.
It is not yet fifteen years since Aitken showed the part it
played in the formation of clouds, fog, and rain. Since then
numerous observers have confirmed their conclusions and
studied its relation to the colors of the sky, the nature of haze,
and other atmospheric phenomena.
The systematic investigations have, however, been mostly
restricted to work in laboratories or observations on the free
air of a few regions in Europe and the United States, sup
plemented by casual'observations on certain atmospheric phe
nomena observed elsewhere in the temperate and tropical
zones. So far as I know, the recorded observations made in
the polar regions are confined to the fact that dust has been
found in the snow by several Arctic explorers. Captain
Nares found it in the stratified snow over the " palaeocrystic
sea " in the far north, and others have noted it in the snows of
Greenland and Lapland.
For a better understanding of the relations of atmospheric
dust to certain phenomena in the Arctic regions it may be
well to state a few elementary facts in physics and the con
ditions that exist in the other climates.
Watery vapor is a colorless gas and as invisible as the other
gases are that constitute most of the atmosphere. It only
becomes visible when condensed as cloud, fog, snow, or rain.
Ordinary air will hold only a certain amount of this invisible
vapor, the quantity depending on the temperature. When it
contains all of the vapor it will hold at any temperature it is
said to be saturated. If the temperature is raised, the amount
of vapor required to saturate air increases, and on the other

150 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
hand, if the air is cooled below the point of saturation a part
of the vapor condenses as cloud, rain, or snow. The tempera
ture at which it begins to condense is called the " dew-point,"
which is also the point of saturation. If it condenses on a
large surface it is obviously liquid, but if condensation takes
place throughout the mass of the air it forms a cloud, as
always occurs when steam from a jet issues into the outer air.
Until lately there has been much uncertainty as to the nature
of this cloud. Some considered that the particles were hollow
vesicles — minute bubbles, as it were — each containing a little
air, and thus made buoyant. Others held that the particles
were simply minute drops of water, so small that they were
suspended in the gaseous medium, just as particles of dust are.
In laboratory experiments on the matter the formation of cloud
was found to be very capricious ; sometimes it formed and
sometimes not, and several curious hypotheses were suggested
to account for the anomalies.
It was believed, however, that whenever saturated air was
cooled below the ' dew-point condensation would and must
occur, as it certainly did in free air. If it was on a cooled
surface, then as dew ; if throughout the whole mass of the
air, then a cloud must be formed within the air itself; and if the
supply of vapor was continued, or the temperature continued
to fall, then the cloud-particles would increase in size and
become drops of rain, or, if this occurs below 32° Fahr., then
frost or snow. Such was the belief until a very few years ago.
It is now proved that steam or watery vapor does not
readily condense unless it has a surface to condense upon. In
the open air the suspended dust-particles furnish this surface.
Air in closed vessels may artificially be freed from all dust-
particles, and if a jet of steam be admitted into such an atmos
phere no cloud is formed ; the air becomes supersaturated —
that is, contains much more vapor than it will hold in its
natural state. It has thus been made to hold several times

ATMOSPHERIC DUST IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 151
the normal amount required for saturation. If the smallest
amount of common air (dust-laden as it always is) be admitted
into such supersaturated air, cloud immediately forms. As
Aitken expresses it, " dust is the germ of which clouds and fog
are the developed phenomena."
Atmospheric dust is of very varied origin and fineness. A
part of it is organic, coming from the vegetable and animal
world, either as part of original growth or organic material
partially decayed. Some of it consists of the solid particles in
smoke ; a part consists of pulverized soil raised by the winds ;
some doubtless comes from dust in space or the combustion of
shooting-stars when they reach the atmosphere. These various
ingredients are mingled in every conceivable proportion and
are of every degree of fineness, from coarse drifting sands
down to particles of molecular fineness. Illuminated by the
Bun or other light, the air becomes visible because of this dust.
The rays are scattered, and diffused daylight and twilight are
among the results. The particles may be so small as to break
up the light-waves and by diffraction and polarization pro
duce colors — reds, blues, greens, yellows, and their various
combinations, according to the size and character of the
particles. Moisture begins to accumulate on these particles long be
fore cloud begins to form, changing the color and visibility of
the atmosphere, so the aspect of haze changes with the dry
ness of the air as well as with the size of the particles.
The sirocco of Egypt is a hot southerly wind from the
desert, so laden with fine dust that it is an Arabian saying
that it will penetrate the shell of an egg. Travellers describe
the color of the sun seen through this air as red or dull
purple. The harmattan is a scorching easterly wind blowing
from the interior of the Sahara toward the Atlantic between
Capes Lopez and Verde. It is so laden with fine dust that it
is often described as a " dry fog," through which the sun ap-

152 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
pears of a dull red. It extends out over the Atlantic for
nearly a thousand miles, and has been described by many
travellers. It is much like the " dry storms" of San Diego
County, California, which are hot, withering easterly winds
coming over the intervening mountains from the interior
deserts, intensely dry, and so laden with impalpable dust that
the sun is seen through it dull and brown in color. The
"dry fogs" of eastern California are of similar origin, and
assume a variety of phases, according to the season.
The dry fogs, so called, which occur in many parts of the
world, are composed of dust, not water. One extended over
Europe for weeks in 1783, from the dust thrown out by the
great volcanic eruption in Iceland that year. The great erup
tion of Krakatoa in July, 1883, belched forth dust for many
days, and in such quantities that the coarser portions covered
some of the neighboring islands several feet thick, smothering
the unfortunate inhabitants. The finer particles were wafted
around the world, producing effects that caused wonderment
everywhere. In India the sun rose and set green for a week.
In the Seychelles and in Brazil the sun was as pale as the
moon. In Europe and the United States the most wondrous
red sun-glows illumined the western sky a month or two
later. We all remember them in the late November of that
year. They extended to the Hawaiian Islands.
Civilization and agriculture add greatly to the amoun of
atmospheric dust. The cultivated fields and the dry roads
furnish much material, and the smoke produced in every
house and manufactory adds to it. I explored the Eocky
Mountains of Colorado before there were any railways or
big cities there, and again a quarter of a century later, after
it had become a great State, traversed by numerous railways,
and when great cities had risen where I had only seen open
plain or secluded valley. Farms covered the plain, and smoke
rose from numerous smelting works and manufactories. Dur-

ATMOSPHERIC DUST IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 153
ing both visits I studied the atmospheric effect both from the
valleys and from the mountain-tops to above fourteen thou
sand feet. The change in the atmospheric aspects produced
by man was striking and obvious. The dust of civilization,
the smoke from the numerous smelters, locomotives, and
household fires, had so polluted the air that it was scarcely
half so transparent as before, and had curiously changed the
aspect of the landscapes when seen from the heights
No height yet reached by man is above this dust, but the
higher we go the finer it is, producing corresponding effects.
The intensely dark blue of the sky, the color often tinged
with violet when seen from high peaks, is due to the fineness
of the atmospheric dust at those altitudes. The coarser dust
lies nearer the surface. Professor Langley has described it as
seen from the summit of Mount Whitney, looking eastAvard
over the deserts, and I have studied it from numerous peaks.
The aspect varies with the season, with the weather at the
time, and with the time of day. For illustration I may cite
my experience on Lassen's Peak, in northern California.
The first ascent was made when a cyclonic area was passing.
An ocean of cloud was below us, driven by the furious wind
and tossed into gigantic billows. We were entirely above
this. Its surface was the purest white, illuminated by the
sun from a cloudless sky, and eighty miles away the majestic
'crf//e of Mount Shasta rose a mile into the clear air above
this cloud-ocean.
The next ascent was a few days later, after the storm had
entirely passed, and illustrated the other features. This peak
commands a wider view than I have seen elsewhere, extend
ing in some directions to two hundred miles. We made the
ascent in the night, and watched the marvellous colors of the
dawn over the dusty deserts in the east. West and south of
us was the great central valley of California, its objects clear
in the early morning, but before midday it was filled with

154 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
dust to the depth of a mile or more, shutting out all distant
objects on the bottom. It was a hazy ocean with ill-defined
surface and shores, shading into the mountains that rose
above it on either side. The surface passed insensibly into
that finer and clearer dust which extended into the upper
regions of the atmosphere. At sunrise the shadow of the
conical peak was visible, and the sun shining on the motes
made the air visible on either side of the shadow, which was
wonderfully distinct against the clear sky. It was of deep
cobalt-blue, sharply contrasting with the light azure-blue of
the sunlit air about it. By optical illusion this shadow
seemed far higher than the peak itself. Owing to the curva
ture of the earth, it stood far above the mountain ranges on
the distant horizon, a gigantic spectral peak projected against
the western sky, sinking as the sun mounted higher, an
object of indescribable grandeur.
Travellers have often described similar shadows of other
peaks. Other optical phenomena occur, some due to the
dust alone, others due to the partially condensed moisture on
the dust. The Spectre of the Brocken, in Germany, and the
glory about Adam's Peak, in Ceylon, are well-known ex
amples. The exquisite blue of the tropical skies, the dark blue-
violet sky seen from very high peaks, the various phases of
haze over landscapes, the charm of our Indian summer atmos
phere, the green sun seen in India and in Ecuador after vol
canic eruptions, the bloody sun of some climes and the
copper sun of others, are among the optical phenomena due to
atmospheric dust.
Our trip to Greenland was from the familiar atmospheric
conditions of our own clime to those entirely new to me, and
therefore had an especial interest. The ice and snow were
not new except as to quantity and thickness. Much of the
vegetation had a sort of familiar look ; I had met so many

ATMOSPHERIC DUST IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 155
of the same species on the alpine peaks of California,
Colorado, and Switzerland. But the atmospheric aspects
were new and strange, and at times fascinating. They showed
themselves in the character of the rains and fogs, in the
aspects of the sky and the landscapes, and in the mirages
seen over the water.
The rains and fogs, and other atmospheric phenomena of
that portion of the North which we visited, were just such as
we might infer from the paucity of smoke and dust in the air
there. Over the millions of square miles within the Arctic
Circle practically no smoke is generated, and but little for
many more millions lying in the high latitudes surrounding
it. All the other sources of dust are scanty, and most of that
which is wafted to the regions from more southern climes, is
washed out rapidly by the abundant rains and fogs. From
the nature of the case, the difference between the air-temper
ature and the dew-point can never be so great as it is in our
latitude. It Avas evident from the character of both the fogs and
rains that there was a paucity of dust-particles in the air for
the water to condense upon. None of the fogs seen north of
latitude 52° or 53° are so white and opaque as those which
are common south of latitude 50°. There is much exaggera
tion in the popular description of fogs. We often hear
them described as being so thick that nothing can be seen
a hundred feet away. In fact, such fogs are rare, on sea or
land. Comparatively few fogs are so opaque that large dark
objects cannot be seen through them two hundred feet. I
saAV none in the Greenland seas through which we could not
see several hundred feet, and usually very much farther. The
fogs were all much more transparent than those we met with
off the coast of New England and Nova Scotia on our voyage
both out and back. They were, however, as a rule, very
much wetter, and more misty. Often, when the fog was so

156 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
transparent that we could see a half-mile, or even a mile, in
every direction from the ship, the water would drip like rain
from the rigging and every exposed surface, and our beards
and clothes would be rapidly covered with fine drops.
Even those surface fogs which rested on the water under
a clear sky, and which shut out the horizon, but with the sun
shining through from above, were very wet. The ship's rig
ging, and even our beards, would drip, furnishing surface for
condensation. On our return, and when in the dense, opaque
fogs met with south of New England, I noticed the marked
contrast in their wetness, so to speak. At times, when we
could not see a ship's length, the air did not behave as if it
was entirely saturated. The decks of the ship would dry
after scrubbing, and other wet but exposed objects would
dry even in the fog. The dust-particles in the air over these
southern waters were ample to collect all the moisture, and
more too ; while in the Greenland fogs, condensation went on
as if there was not dust enough in the air to supply the
demand. The fogs we met with in Vineyard Sound, before and after
the collision with the schooner Dora M. French, were strik
ingly white and opaque, as contrasted with all those encoun
tered in the Greenland seas, but were damp rather than wet.
All the rains observed north of latitude 53° differed from
the summer rains at home in that they consisted only of small
drops— mist rather than rain. For example, the heaviest
rain we had at Sukkertoppen occurred on August 11. Nu
merous rills streamed from the rocky heights in small cas
cades, and streams poured from the scuppers of the ship, but
the rain was a fine mist. It seemed strange that such misty
rain, falling so noiselessly, could possibly wet so fast as this
did. The same fact was noticed in numerous other rains,
both in the harbor at Sukkertoppen and outside. In the
heavy storm in Davis Straits, in which the Miranda was

ATMOSPHERIC DUST IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 157
abandoned on August 23, and when the barometer fell one inch
and a half, the rain, although very wetting, was a fine mist.
This was in latitude 61° 15', and perhaps two hundred miles
from land. Such was the character of all the rains we had
while in the North, and on our return until just beloAv lati
tude 52°, when during the night we had a shower of large
drops. It was of short duration, but the patter of the big
drops on the deck told us that we were back again to familiar
atmospheric conditions.
The slight range of temperature was also probably a fac
tor in the difference in size of the rain-drops as well as in
the opacity of the fog. In warmer regions, we have not only
a greater abundance of dust-particles upon which condensa
tion may take place, but a greater range of temperature to
promote rapid condensation. North of latitude 58° the sur
face waters were below 42° Fahr., and out over the open
water the air was rarely above 46°. Often the difference be
tween the air-temperature and that of the water was not over
two or three degrees, and during the fogs in Baffin Bay the
difference was usually less than six degrees, and local patches
of fog would sometimes form with changes in the air-temper
ature of a single degree, or even less. In the fogs met with
while in and near the ice off Cape Desolation there were sud
den and temporary changes of one or two degrees of tempera
ture in the air, during which there would be changes in the
transparency of the misty fog.
The aspects of the sky and landscape were striking, and I
think it probable that this produces — unconsciously, of course
— one of the fascinations of Arctic scenery. The sky was a
light blue, in the clearest day, and whitish in ordinary clear
weather ; yet the light was strong, and our professional pho
tographer, Mr. Kersting, often remarked on its qualities for
photography. Some of his views rivalled the best views
taken in California, where the atmosphere is supposed to be

158 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
especially favorable for outdoor photography. It is much
more so than that of the Eastern States, yet, contrasting the
atmosphere of the three, as to the physical characters, that
of Greenland stands at the opposite extreme from that of
California, and our photographs, as a whole, were strikingly
good. There were nearly a score of cameras on board, and
even the most inexperienced amateurs were brilliantly suc
cessful in getting good views.
During onr detention at Sukkertoppen, awaiting the
arrival of a rescue vessel, I made frequent trips to the sur
rounding heights, some of which commanded wide and ex
ceedingly grand views. This is considered the boldest and
most picturesque portion of Western Greenland. The head
lands are lofty and precipitous, and the mainland and some
of the larger islands are studded with pinnacled and inacces
sible rocky peaks, furrowed by numerous narrow gorges con
taining more or less perpetual snow. The mainland is cut by
three fiords, which run up the country for from forty to sixty-
four miles. Beyond these are high and precipitous mountains,
the higher ones being pinnacles of granite, with the great inte
rior snow-cap surrounding them, and coming in grand glaciers
down through the gaps between them to the fiords. The
aspect of the region, as seen from the summits back of the
colony, was impressively grand and striking.
There was absolutely no softening by blue haze, as we have
over the landscapes of temperate climes. The sharp, rugged
peaks rising from the desolate ice and snow of the interior,
aud the rounded, naked rocks nearer the sea, under the cold
gray light had a scenic aspect very unlike any other land
scapes I have ever seen. They had a sublimity of their own,
which awed while it fascinated. They were indescribably
impressive, but were not picturesque. The clouds which hung
about the peaks much of the time were ragged, and had ill-
defined edges. I saw none of the cumulus masses of cloud

ATMOSPHERIC DUST IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 159
which constitute such a picturesque feature among the moun
tains of temperate and tropical countries. The clouds were
usually stratus, and when not covering the whole sky had ill-
defined edges, often fading off into watery mist.
When not wrapped in clouds or dim in the mist the rocky
peaks were projected against a cold, gray sky. I have been told
by travellers who have been frozen up over winter in the Arctic
seas that as the sun leaves them in the autumn, and before it
appears in the spring, there are very brilliant red sunset
cloud-effects, but they were seen but sparingly during our
visit. We had, however, the beautiful rosy " alpenglow "
twice at sunset upon the great snow-fields and glaciers.
It was, however, less pronounced than I have seen it
on the snowy peaks of Oregon, California, Wyoming, and
Switzerland. It is probable, however, that in the clearer
and cooler weather of April and May the colors would be
stronger. Where there was any haze over the Greenland landscape it
was a gray, watery haze, entirely unlike either the white haze
sometimes seen over dry deserts or the blue haze seen over
civilized lands and where there is smoke in the atmosphere.
There was absolutely none of that blue haze which gives such
a special charm to our own landscapes, where all the minor
details are indistinct in the distance, and which produces such
charming effects of color when the sun is low in the brilliant
sky, glowing with yellow, orange, or red, as the case may be,
the shadows of sunset fading from the glowing sky above into
the indistinctness of the valleys, ending in a flaming red on
the horizon above the spot where the sun has set.
We saw smoky haze in Labrador as we looked inland from
the heights, but it was much fainter than in the regions far
ther north, and when we arrived at Sydney, on our return,
the valley beyond the town was filled with it, the landscape
fading into indistinctness in the blue distance ; this effect

160 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
seemed even more striking and beautiful than usual, from the
contrast with what we had seen in the North.
The various forms of "ice-blink" and "ice-loom," so
familiar to Arctic travellers, are also probably due to dust-
particles or half-condensed vapor, scattering the light re
flected to them from ice below the horizon. It is a peculiar
color or appearanee in the air which is above ice. The
ordinary phases need no description here. We saw one
little phase, however, which was so peculiar and striking that
it may be noted. We had passed a very large berg, and were
watching it carefully as it dropped astern to see how long it
could be seen, but its actual disappearance could not be timed.
A light spot hovered about it before it sank out of sight, and
for some time after it sank below the horizon the place of its
disappearance was marked by an illuminated spot in the air
like a segment of a circle or an ellipse resting on the horizon,
brightest near the water, and fading out from the centre.
Although not related to atmospheric dust, there is a phase
of optical meteorology that needs, perhaps, a Avord. It is
the mirage noticed by all Arctic travellers. We had our best
example of that off Newfoundland and Labrador. In these
regions the fogs occur when the winds are easterly, from the
south round to the northeast; but the air clears when the
wind is westerly or off shore. If it be mild and the air
warm, then the mirage is likely to appear. July 16 was
one of the most enjoyable days of the trip. We were steam
ing along the northeastern coast of Newfoundland, between
latitude 49° and 51°. It was a clear day, with a very light
wind off shore, and at times the air was so calm that
the sea was almost glassy. The atmosphere was very trans
parent, and the sky overhead was brightly blue, becoming
very pale toward the horizon. The sea-horizon itself was
very dark, but not sharp ; on the contrary, it was wavy and
ill-defined, often ragged and changing in outline. We were

ATMOSPHERIC DUST IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 161
in the great procession of icebergs coming down that coast
with the cold current. These bergs were exceptionally abun
dant and large in 1894, and the effect of the distortions due
to mirage of those on the horizon was fascinatingly beautiful.
Distant bergs would be appearing and disappearing. Mar
vellous as their shapes are naturally, they were made much
more so by this optical distortion, now magnified and lifted
to many times their real height, then flattening out again,
their wavy and flickering outline — bringing them into weird
and strange shapes — continually changing in the brilliant sun
shine. Sometimes they would fade out of sight, soon to be
seen again peeping above the dark but capricious horizon, now
divided into two with a belt of dark water between and then
coming back to normal form or again disappearing entirely
below the horizon, where a ripple on the sea showed that local
belts of light wind broke up the unequally heated layers of air.
The mirages of these regions are nearly always the reverse
of those seen on heated deserts, which I have often studied.
Those are in the cooler air which rests on hotter soil. These
are due to the warmer air resting on colder water, and the
most common result is a " looming up," or bringing things
above the horizon which would normally be below it.
This pure, dust-free air and cool temperature were pecul
iarly healthful. The hygienic effects were remarked by l11
our party, every one of whom returned in excellent health and
strength, save one or two cases of minor accidental bruises.
I await with much interest fuller investigation on the at
mospheric dust-phenomena of the Arctic regions. A quanti
tative investigation of the relative number of particles, and a
comparison in this respect with the numbers found in other
regions, are especially needed. Fuller and more systematic
observation of the various related phenomena, made under
other conditions and at other seasons, Avould be exceedingly
interesting, and rich in scientific results.

GLACIAL OBSERVATIONS IN LABRADOR
AND SOUTHERN GREENLAND.

BY PROFESSOR G. FREDERICK WRIGHT.

On crossing Davis Straits from
Labrador to Greenland one is deep
ly impressed with the contrast in
the scenery of the two countries.
The coast of Labrador presents
everywhere a smooth and flowing
outline against the sky. There
are no sharp peaks, but every
where the contour is subdued and
graceful in outline. Upon the
western coast of southern Green
land, on the contrary, the pre
vailing feature of the landscape, as
seen from a distance of thirty or forty miles, is that of sharp,
needle-like peaks, such as would do credit to the high Alps, or
to the central portion of the Rocky Mountain range, though
none of them rise more than 4,000 or 5,000 feet above the sea.
In seeking for the reason of this contrast one is at first
puzzled by the fact that it is not due to any dissimilarity be
tween the character of the rocks in the tAvo regions, for they
belong to the same age and are essentially alike in all re
spects, the prevailing rocks in both instances being gneiss,
with occasional masses of granite and frequent intersecting
veins of trap. We must look, therefore, for some other cause
than the nature of the rocks for explanation of this diversity
of appearance.

GLACIAL OBSERVATIONS. 163
Due reflection upon the facts, and upon the forces in
operation adapted to their production, will, however, fur
nish a satisfactory and adequate explanation. The floAving,
graceful outline of the Labrador coast is the result of the hor
izontal erosion effected by such a rigid force as is furnished
by an ice-sheet slowly moving over the surface and planing it
down to a comparative level, while the coast of Greenland
shows the signs of having been sculptured predominantly by
the action of water and other sub-aerial agencies, rather than
by an all-enveloping ice-sheet ; for water erodes mainly in
vertical sections, wearing deep, narrow channels at frequent
intervals, leaving masses of land between the channels to be
gradually worn by frost and wind and rain into the sharp,
needle-like peaks characteristic of most high altitudes.
At first thought it seems improbable that the scenery
on the coast of Labrador should betray the sculpturing
power of a glacial ice-sheet more clearly than the coast of
Greenland does, and the fact is of great significance ; for
there are no extensive glaciers in Labrador at present, while in
southern Greenland great glaciers come down to the head of all
the fiords, and some of them, as near Frederickshaab and Suk
kertoppen, reach almost to the open sea ; and everywhere the
borders of a vast inland ice-sheet, thousands of feet in thick
ness, are met from fifteen to sixty miles back from the ocean.
The question therefore arises with great force, Why is the
scenery of the coast of Labrador more characteristically gla
cial than that of Greenland ? The ansAver may best be given
in a general statement arrived at by a number of separate in
ferences. Labrador was once more completely enveloped by
ice than Greenland has ever been. The border of Greenland
has probably never been completely covered by ice. HoAvever
great the former extension of the glaciers, they were never
confluent near the border of the sea, but flowed outwards in
the separate channels now marked Dy the deep fiords, and

164 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
Avere separated by numerous nunataks, or peaks, which per
petually lifted themselves above the ice, subject to the action
of sub-aerial erosive agencies. If the margin of Greenland
was ever, like that of Labrador, completely enveloped in ice,
so as to be planed down to a nearly uniform level, it must
have been at a period preceding by an enormous interval that
of the glacial epoch whose evidences are now visible.
Yet upon penetrating the interior of Greenland to a dis
tance of about twenty miles, where the margin free from ice
is considerably wider than that, one sees before him the same
characteristic flowing outline of scenery as that which has been
described in Labrador. Instead of numerous sharp peaks,
there is the subdued and gracefully rounded contour which
would be produced by long-continued and general glaciation.
Here, too, the other signs of a former occupancy by ice appear
in increasing degree as one gets farther and farther into the in
terior. The summits of the higher plateaus above 2,000 feet
bear the remnants of glaciers which Avere formerly much more
extensive, and which even now send occasional projecting
tongues of ice doAvn to the loAver levels, while frequent glaci
ated boulders dot the surface after the manner with which we
are so familiar in the United States. But there is a remark
able absence of those extensive moraines and deposits of till
or boulder clay Avhich characterize the glaciated portions of
the United States. This absence of extensive glacial deposits,
characteristic alike of Labrador and of the interior portion of
the outskirts of Greenland, points to a common cause.
Both Labrador and these portions of Greenland are so
near the sources from Avhich the supply of glacial debris has
been derived, and they haA-e been so long under the glacial
harrow, that all the accessible loose material has been swept
away to the margin, Avhere the glacial deposits have been prin
cipally made. In both cases this margin of glacial deposition
is covered by the sea, and hence is not visible. There can be

GLACIAL OBSERVATIONS. 165
little doubt that the submerged banks of Newfoundland are
covered by deposits of glacial material derived from Labrador,
just as northern Germany and northeastern Russia are cov
ered with the waste from the Scandinavian mountains. If
the continental plateau surrounding Newfoundland should
ever be elevated so as to be again above the sea, it is quite
probable that a vast population could spread out upon it and
flourish upon the glacial grist of the Labrador mountains, as
the southern part of Ontario and the northern part of the
United States are now rejoicing in the fertility of the Cana
dian grist which has been so conveniently spread over them
by the continental ice-sheet. There has been a remarkable
movement in Germany recently in the direction of fertilizing
the soils by grinding up certain rocks to powder and scatter
ing it profusely over the surface. Eminent men have written
to me concerning the feasibility of employing these kinds of
fertilizers for our own soils. A convincing reply is readily
made — namely, that nature has already done this for the
northern part of the United States upon a scale Avhich man
cannot hope to equal. Every kind of rock from the north
has been brought into requisition to furnish material for this
glacial grist in the northern part of the United States, and
the agriculturist has but to devise ways to extract its richness
and his success is assured. But this process has left the far
north barren of agricultural resources, even if the climate
were favorable. Professor Hellaud estimates that as much as
two hundred and fifty feet of material has been removed by
glacial action from the Scandinavian peninsula and deposited
over the surrounding belt of territory extending into north
ern Germany and northwestern Russia. There can be little
question that corresponding deposits around both Labrador
and Greenland are covered by the waters of the ocean.
At this point tAvo inevitable questions may best be an
swered. First, were the glaciers of Greenland and those

x^

166 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
of Labrador ever confluent in Davis Straits, so that there
was continuous ice between the two regions ? This must be
answered in the negative ; for the evidence already given of
the thinness of the ice over the outskirts of Greenland is
inconsistent with any great extension of it from Greenland
into Davis Straits, especially as the bottom, a short distance
from the shore, descends rapidly to a depth of several thou
sand feet. This depth, together with the great width, which
is here about six hundred miles, renders it extremely im
probable that ice could ever have been supplied from the
continent rapidly enough to have filled the whole intervening
area This leads to the seeond question, relating to the elevation
of the land at the time of the glacial period. That the land
on both sides of Davis Straits was much higher before and
during the glacial period than it is now is shoAvn by the great
depth of the Greenland fiords and by the submerged channels
through the Gulf of St. Lawrence. From the mouth of the
Saguenay River to the margin of the Atlantic plateau two hun
dred or three hundred miles south of Newfoundland there is a
well-marked deep channel through the Gulf of St. Lawrence
several hundred feet, and toward the mouth from 1,200 to
1,500 feet, below the general level of the bottom of the Gulf
and of the Banks. In other words, if that region should be
elevated six hundred feet, the whole area covered by the Gulf
of St. Lawrence and the Banks of Newfoundland would be
come dry land, intersected by a cafion from 1,200 to 1,500
feet deep, marking the ancient course of the St. Lawrence on
its way to the sea. The inference is irresistible that in
pre-glacial times that area was elevated to a height of from
1,500 to 2,000 feet; otherwise the erosion of such a channel
is inconceivable. The argument from the fiords in Greenland is of a similar
nature. Their depth is such as to indicate a former elevation

GLACIAL OBSERVATIONS. 167
of the land to a height of several hundred feet at least. As
they penetrate the interior to a distance, in some instances,
of seventy-five miles, it would seem clear that the whole area
must have been above the water-level at one time. In the
case of the submerged channels through the Gulf of St. Law
rence the conditions are such as pretty much to preclude any
other agency than running water as their producing cause.
In Greenland, however, it is possible to introduce glaciers as
the eroding agency in deepening the fiords when the level
was very much the same as now, in which case we should not
need to suppose any great former enlargement of the land
area surrounding Greenland. In any case there is no evi
dence of the complete filling up of Davis Straits with land-ice ;
but, on the contrary, overwhelming evidence against it.
A more detailed description of my observations upon the
Greenland coast during the summer of 1894 in the vicinity of
Sukkertoppen will add considerably to the strength of these
inferences. Sukkertoppen is in latitude 65° 25', and is the
largest Eskimo settlement upon the coast, containing about
four hundred natives, who find in its vicinity most favorable
haunts for fish and birds, and for seal and reindeer. The
general distance of the inland ice from the sea is here about
sixty miles, which is the distance penetrated by Isortok fiord.
But between Isortok fiord and Kangererdlugsuatsiak, which
penetrates the outskirts to an equal distance, a projection of
the inland ice extends to within about fifteen miles of the sea.
During our stay at Sukkertoppen in August I made two
expeditions of much importance. First up Isortok fiord to
about half its length, and again to the projection of the in
land ice twenty-five miles north entering Ikamiut fiord. On
both these expeditions there Avas abundant evidence that
glaciers had formerly filled the fiord up certainly to a height
of about 2,000 feet and extending out to the line of the ocean
shore. In both Isortok and Ikamiut fiords the glacial

168 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
scratches were very fresh and clear, distinct on all freshly
exposed surfaces near the water-level, while upon the south
side of Ikamiut fiord, facing the north, the glacial groovmgs
parallel to the axis of the fiord were very distinct up to a
height of 2,000 feet. Upon the side of the fiord facing the
sun the alternations of heat and cold had caused the faces of
the rock to crumble to such an extent that the markings
were nearly all effaced ; but upon the south side they were
still very distinct, and could be traced up the fiord to the
front of the retreating glacier.
Now that the main glacier has retreated for a distance of
about eight miles up the whole length of the Ikamiut fiord,
local glaciers are creeping down the flanks of the mountains
at right angles to the former movement ; and one glacier of
considerable size is moving directly toward the front of the
main glacier as it impinges upon the eastern side end of the
mountain, thus showing how complicated are the movements
accompanying both the advance and the retreat of the great
ice-sheet, and accounting for the different directions in which
glacial scratches often cross the same rock surface. It is
evident that along this fiord from which the ice has retreated
the local glaciers are furrowing and scratching the flanks of
the mountain at right angles to those which were produced
when the fiord was full of ice.
The glacier coming in to the head of Ikamiut fiord bore
upon its back an enormous medial moraine, fed chiefly by
branches from the north. This extended back as far as the
eye could see, or until it was concealed by the freshly fallen
snows. For the first five miles back from the front this
moraine was fully half a mile wide, and contained many
angular boulders from fifteen to twenty feet in diameter.
Mingled with these, and with the sand, mud, and gravel
accompanying them, were numerous perfectly rounded pebbles
a few inches in diameter, showing the vigor of thesuperglacial

GLACIAL OBSERVATIONS. 169
streams which had doubtless borne them along from the
distant interior. With so large a moraine upon the ice one
would expect to find corresponding moraines in the area from
which the ice had melted off; but their absence is readily
accounted for by the great depth of the fiord, and from the
fact that the moraine was very nearly in the middle of the
glacier, which was here about five mile wide. The fiord is
capacious enough to swallow all the material which the glacier
has vomited into it.
Some years ago, when Nordenskiold visited the inland ice,
a good deal was said about the dust which he found scattered
over the surface, and which he surmised might be of meteoric
origin. Dr. Hoist, however, found similar material collected
in considerable thickness over the margin of the ice all along
southern Greenland, and ascertained, upon analysis, that it
was simply dust blown from the mountains to the outskirts,
thus furnishing a more prosaic explanation of the phe
nomenon. The fact that Nansen found nothing like kryo-
konite in the interior of Greenland confirms the conclu
sion of Hoist, as did our own observations upon the Ikamiut
glacier, which was covered with this dust, as we estimated, to
a depth of a quarter of an inch, while in places it had been
washed into hollows of the ice, filling them up to a depth of
several inches.
Anotner evidence of the former extension of the glaciers
to the margin of the ocean appeared in numerous light-col
ored granite boulders found at Sukkertoppen and other places,
where the rocks were of an entirely different character.
One of the most puzzling things in southern Greenland is
the existence of the reindeer ; for it is difficult to see how the
animal could reach those grazing-grounds under present con
ditions. It is not known that these animals make extensive
journeys on the inland ice, or, indeed, that they venture upon
it at all. Yet this projection of the inland ice that comes

170 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
down to Isortok fiord would seem completely to isolate
the grazing-grounds of the south from those of the north.
The same difficulty arises in a still greater degree north
of Umenak fiord, where for hundreds of miles there is now
no margin of land uncovered with ice along the whole cir
cuit of Melville Bay from Upernavik to Cape York ; yet
these animals are found in great numbers north of Cape York
and all along the western coast south of Upernavik. They
seem to flourish upon the abundant mosses and creeping
herbage which grow in the protected nooks and crannies of
all that inhospitable region, furnishing the most dainty food
and the warmest of clothing to the hunters and their
families. The only way in which this distribution of the reindeer
can be accounted for would seem to be by supposing that at a
former time there was a broader and more continuous margin
of land free from ice than there is now, and that subsequently
this border was diminished to its present width and with its
present interruptions, isolating different herds of the animal.
There are two suppositions according to which this former
enlargement and subsequent limitations of the border may
have been produced. During a milder period the ice may
have at one time retreated farther into the interior than now,
allowing free passage along the whole border, and then at a
subsequent time advanced again, as it evidently has done even
much beyond its present limits.
The more likely explanation is that in the general elevation
of the northern region which preceded the glacial epoch
period a considerable border of the shalloAV ocean-bed Avas
lifted above the surface of the water, affording extensive pas
turage and free passageAvay all down the coasts of Greenland
and of Labrador, thus facilitating the distribution of both
animals and plants to the isolated localities in southern Green
land where they are found, and making it possible also forthe

GLACIAL OBSERVATIONS. 171
various animals and plants to reach Newfoundland from the
shores of the neighboring continent.
The mystery of Greenland and of the great ice age does not
grow less as we extend our study of the facts, both past and
present. When one treads the solitary wastes of the vast ice
fields of Greenland, they seem the very image of firmness and
immobility ; yet he has but to put his ear down to the surface
to hear the busy hum of innumerable infinitesimal forces
which are all conspiring to produce in their ultimate effects
most startling results ; and when once he returns to the head
of the fiord, where the great glacier enters the sea, there is
the most startling evidence of the irresistible power of these
cumulative forces

THE GREENLANDERS.

BY FREDERICK A. COOK, M.D.

The aborigines of nearly all parts of the Arctic regions
know no other name for themselves than " Inuit," the people.
We call them Eskimos, or Huskies, but these names are as
incorrect as the term Indians applied to our own wild prede
cessors. I shall here consider only a branch of the Eskimo
stem, those who inhabit the Danish possessions of Greenland,
a race of aboriginies who have intermingled and intermar
ried freely with Scandinavians for nearly two centuries. This
hopeless mixture has produced a hybrid population to which
we can properly give the name of Greenlanders.
The Greenlanders are in every way inferior to the primi
tive stock, isolated hordes of which still remain beyond Mel
ville Bay and on the east coast. In round numbers, the
population is about 10,000, and for the past twenty-five years
it has not materially increased or decreased.
Their present territory extends from Cape Farewell to the
base of Melville Bay, on the west coast, and from Cape Fare
well to Angmasalik on the east coast. The topography of
Greenland is such that only the coastal fringe is habitable,
and since the inhabitants obtain food and clothing principally
from the denizens of the sea, their habitations are not far
removed from the bleak and rocky shores of the relentless
Arctic seas. There are several large indentations along the
coast — arms of the sea, termed fiords — some a hundred or more
miles in length, the shores of which usually have a fair share
of population distributed over favored spots where game is
abundant.

THE GREENLANDERS. 173
The climate of Greenland varies greatly with each local
ly, tin the immediate vicinity of the open sea, the atmos
phere is almost constantly charged with an abundance of cold
moisture. Dense fogs are common throughout the year ; but
near the heads of the bays and fiords the opposite atmospheric
condition prevails. There the winds are mainly from the
ice-covered interior, and have been freed of moisture by cold ;
hence dry air, feAV fogs, and, in summer, a very agreeable
temperature. The climate, on the whole, is by no means
disagreeable to Caucasians. Indeed, some regions above
Disco Inland would form most excellent sites for sanitariums ;
for the effect upon nervous patients is marvellous. The
natives, hoAvever, are badly fed, poorly clothed, and physi
cally ruined by the misdirected charity of the Danish Govern
ment. Contrary to the general belief, the people of Danish
Greenland are less able to withstand the rigors of the Arctic
atmosphere than are Scandinavians. Their wild elements of
life have been largely supplanted by ill-adapted, semi-civil
ized habits which can only invite disease and destroy the
people. The soil, Avhen it exists, is fairly fertile, and Avell moistened.
In parts of the southern valleys a profusion of grass is found,
and occasionally a small patch of stunted forest of birch and
willows and other hardy trees, which groAV to a height of from
one to six feet. The agricultural possibilities are extremely
limited, but there are many thousands of acres which would
undoubtedly yield a fair harvest if properly cultivated. Next
to nothing has been done by the Greenlander in this direc
tion, and there does not seem to have been any effort to aid
him. Indeed, the most fertile lands in southern Greenland
are almost depopulated.
The animal life on land and water is rapidly vanishing.
The wholesale slaughter of seals on the coast of Newfound-

174 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
land and Labrador is partly responsible for the present scarcity
of seals ; but the disappearance of reindeer, foxes, and bears,
and the diminishing bird life, are due to the introduction of fire
arms, and the indiscriminate destruction that always follows
improved methods of killing game. With a fair amount of
cautisn, there can be no doubt that even the present wild
animal life of Greenland, and the adjoining waters, would
supply a much greater population. If, however, the people
Avere taught to domesticate reindeer, blue foxes, and bears, or
import other fur-bearing animals, and carefully herd them,
there Avould be no limit to the animal life that might thrive
and multiply.
The Greenlanders encountered on the voyage of the
Miranda were very fair specimens of the Danish Greenland
population, their physical characteristics ranging from a
typical Eskimo to a true Norseman. They varied in height
from 4 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 7 inches, the average man being
about 5 feet 5 inches high, and the woman 5 feet 2 inches.
The pure-blooded Eskimo is about three inches shorter.
To the eye of the observer, the Eskimo is at once classed
in a racial scale midway between the American Indian and
the Asiatic Mongolian, and this is really his true position.
Further acquaintance and more careful observation will lead
an investigator into many puzzling moods, but he will always
look at the Eskimos as a branch of the Mongolian stem. Their
skeletons are the reverse of those of the negro. Their bones
present ill-defined muscular ridges, short appendages, partic
ularly small hands and feet. The skull is short and broad,
the forehead very slightly retreating, the chin mildly pro
truding, and the molar bones are prominent. The nose is
diminutive. In studying a nude Greenlander, one is first impressed
with the abbreviated appendages which the bony formation
suggests, a great deficiency of muscular outline, and a very

THE GREENLANDERS. 175
prominent abdomen. The men's skin is deficient in hair-fol
licles, and the women's is almost as barren as a bald head.
The color of the skin varies from that of a fairly dark Cauca
sian to that of a Malay. The average Greenlander is perhaps
darker than the true Eskimo. The skin has an amber or a
light-brown tinge, with a deep-seated cardinal flush, easily
sent to the surface of all parts of the body. Both sexes have
very coarse and straight coal-black hair. To this rule there
are very feAV exceptions, and they indeed are very odd — men
with blond hair, blue eyes, and a dark skin, and to add to the
unnatural aspect, they usually have light beards. They are
unsightly and repulsive, but the few women of the same
blond type are often remarkably beautiful. The prevailing
face is broad, round, and beardless.
The chest of the child is fairly well developed, but that
of the adult early loses its elasticity. The muscles of the .
trunk are very highly developed, particularly the erector
muscles. Both men and women have great ridges of mus
cular tissue on each side of the spine. The body is enveloped
in heavy integument, and considerable fatty tissue in pros
perous seasons, but in this respect they have an inferior
blanket of fat Avhen compared with the most northern Es
kimo. Physiologically, the Greenlanders are the victims of cir
cumstances : Avhen food is abundant, nutrition is excellent
and digestion is good ; but when game is scarce, they seem to
consume their own tissue, and become thin in proportion to
the amount of fasting. They possess a remarkable ability to
subdue hunger, and I have seen men and Avomen subsist on
next to nothing for a month and remain happy and contented.
Their reproductive functions are good, but the infant mortal
ity is great.
The prevailing maladies are principally the results of
Danish sins, the frightful inroads of present diseases being

176 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
quite recent ; but their far-reaching effect bids fair to destroy
the race. To the credit of the Danish officials it should be
said, that they have tried nobly to prevent the introduction of
foreign infection, but the result has been disastrous. The
chief cause of death and the increasing fires of misery are the
germs of tuberculosis. One physician told me that about
two-thirds of the population were thus afflicted in one form or
another, and according to my own observations, certainly the
majority were consumptive. To show that the climate is not
responsible for this, we have only to refer to the isolated
Eskimo tribes, among whom the disease is unknown. Pleu
risy, pneumonia, and catarrh are common, and all the zymotic
diseases have prevailed. Skin diseases and disorders of diges
tion are very uncommon, while victims of gunshot wounds
can be found in nearly every settlement. Broken and frozen
limbs, death from land-slides, snow-slides, and drowning
are frequent. Venereal diseases are almost unknown. The
average longevity is very low, but Greenlanders who have
reached eighty or ninety years are occasionally found.
The most interesting psychological characteristics are lack
of common traits of character, a neutral religious aspect,
though taught Christianity for more than a century and a
half ; great amity and compassion, a lack of courage, and an
almost entire absence of hate and vengeance. Conscience, if
it exists at all, is extremely elastic. The intellectual faculties
are poorly developed, except such as enter directly into their
peculiar life. Attention and observation are often found
in abnormal proportions. The people are good imitators,
and quick in making deductions and conclusions, but their
imagination, contrary to what might be expected from a
people living through long months of darkness, is very poor.
The Greenlander's general disposition is congenial, friendly,
honest, and affectionate, but his self-esteem is very low.
The language is a somewhat modified Eskimo tongue, and

THE GREENLANDERS. 177
is of the Anglutinated type. Its construction, though it
seems at first sight simple, is extremely complicated. Many
Danes who have married native women and have spent a
lifetime in Greenland have only gained a working knowledge
of the native speech. The difficulty in studying it is centred
in the Eskimos' peculiar methods of constructing and com
pounding words which will convey an active meaning ; hence,
each word is a complete sentence, or a very large part of it, or
perhaps a single word and a series of gestures convey a lengthy
idea. The question of language is a very long one, and from a
scientific standpoint is very interesting ; but it is difficult to
analyze it without an overwhelming mass of technical details.
The language is well adapted to the peculiar needs of the
Eskimo people, but wanting in words to express advanced
sentiments. It is rich and often extremely unique in expres
sions for seal-catching, dog-driving, blubber-eating, and animal
sentiments, but quite deficient in definite expressions or
accurate comparisons for things in general. Everything is
either plenty or scarce, big or little, very great or insignificant.
There seems to be no intermediate scale.
Morals are largely matters of convenience : one rarely en
counters very wicked natives, and if judged from our stand
point, even more rarely very good natives. They are usually
peaceful and mild-tempered, but jealousy or an infringement
upon personal liberty arouses their worst passions. When a
person behaves so badly that the community can no longer
tolerate his presence he is forbidden to enter the huts, can
not share the food, or hold any intercourse with the others.
Nevertheless, so long as he threatens no bodily harm, and
displays no murderous intent, little attention is paid to him.
He is ignored, and becomes a social outcast, which in this
state of society is worse than death ; it is the most effective
punishment that an Eskimo can receive.

178 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
The virtues of the men are very much magnified at the
expense of the women, and the wife regards her husband as
her superior lord and master. Few men are jealous of their
wives, but most wives are jealous of their husbands. The
natural inbred admiration for men causes the women to treat
all men affectionately. In this respect they resemble Oriental
women, anticipating man's every desire, studying very care
fully his needs and his follies. Chastity is quite unknown,
and fidelity is uncommon ; men treat the failings of the
women with indifference — wives are exchanged and new
attachments are made as a most natural and necessary func
tion. Both men and women are prized not for beauty, phys
ical force, or wealth, but for their ingenuity in the arts of
life. There is among them a large idle and non-productive
class, but this is not criminal or dangerous, as is the rule
among us.
The product of the hunt furnishes the natives with food,
fuel, and clothing. The Danes supply them with some un-
necessaries, such as tobacco, coffee, sugar, salt, superannuated
biscuits, cloth, etc. ; but the people would be much happier
and healthier without these things. This is particularly true
of tobacco and coffee, for there seems to be something in the
atmosphere which forbids the use of these stimulants and
makes them quite as destructive to ambition, respectability,
and health as alcohol does among our working classes.
At their feasts there is much eating and merrymaking, but
the time devoted to them is brief, and the fun never ends in
fighting ; but there is sometimes an exchange of wives, and
more or less free love. Their life is essentially one of period
ical wealth and poverty, of boundless engorgement with alter
nate starvation, but they move about from day to day, and
from month to month, with no care for the future — happy
alike in famine and in luxury.
My companions, Messrs. Walsh, Dewell, and others, have

THE GREENLANDERS. 179
mentioned other interesting traits of these people, which they
have observed in their own way. The natives, like the land
scape, appeal differently to every imagination. The unique
and quaint little characters, and the bewildering, strong,
relentless scenes, incite the mind, but throw it back upon
itself. They inspire the imagination, without satisfying its
curiosity. Every intruder into Greenland solitudes, and every
student of the people and the animals, has found the life and
the air charged with interest, and every inquiring mind has
been filled with an endless mirage of fascinating perspectives.
There is here a clear view of primeval nature, seen through
the crystal lens of rarefied air. We have a clear understand
ing of prehistoric life, born of an easier study of simple nature,
in its wildest elements. The method and the time may be
forgotten, but the inspiration and the place will ever remain
in our memory.
It is to be hoped that the future will bring new arts, an
extermination of diseases, and a better adaptability to the
stormy conditions, to these unfortunate people. They cannot
long remain isolated from civilization, because they are
perched on the shores of the world's most interesting land
scape, which will always be an increasing point of interest.
The coastal fringe of Greenland, with its people and its life,
is the most sublime and magnificent cyclorama of nature ; its
superb mountains, towering terraced cliffs, chaotic abysses,
great sheets of spotless snow, endless stretches of glacial ice,
and numberless silvery threads of winding waters have no
equal. It is a region of incandescence in summer and glow
ing blackness in winter. It fills the soul of man with awful
despair and violent delights, extremes which, like the coastal
mountains, are separated by great gaps.

A GREENLAND CEMETERY.

BY JAMES D. DEWELL.

With Melville Bay as the ob
jective point, I boarded the steam
ship Miranda July 7, 1894. After
many delays caused by fog, col
lision with an iceberg, and striking
a hidden reef, we anchored in the
little harbor of Sukkertoppen
(Sugar-loaf), Greenland, in early
August. Sukkertoppen is a set
tlement of four hundred Eskimos,
under the Danish flag, a race with
out a history or a nationality, a
people of Asiatic caste, whose pro
genitors Avere probably from a Avarmer clime. How came this
peculiar people to inhabit a frozen region can only be sur
mised. The belief is that in ages past their ancestors were
forced north by tribal wars, probably before the date, of the
English Channel, and
thence through some
emergency reached
the north coast of
Greenland, when that
portion of the earth's
surface Avas more tem
perate than now. As
the cycles of time
rolled along, and the
ice-fiend claimed pos- No, ,._CEMETERY looking north.

A GREENLAND CEMETERY.

181

session of all that is now known as the great ice-cap, this remnant
of a once important tribe worked their way down the coast to
Davis Straits, where they now struggle in poverty for existence.
While waiting for relief, a matter of two weeks, Ave exam
ined the settlement and its surroundings. My first thought

NO. 2.— CEMETERY LOOKING SOUTH.
Avas, in case of death where might we be buried ? but in any
event I desired to see the place Avhere the Sukkertoppeners
buried their dead. Their method of burial is not as they
would have it if living in a more favored clime, but is caused
by the conditions of climate and surroundings. Disposition
of the dead has been from remote times mostly a grave sub
ject. The ancients had a way of embalming and depositing
their dead in tombs ; hence the mummies. The origin of
mummification in Egypt has been much discussed, but it has
been proved that the preservation of the human body was
deemed essential to the corporeal resurrection of the dead.

182

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

Cremation in a rude form among certain other ancient peoples
Avas also practised. To-day in India some deposit their dead
in the water, and the Parsees leave their dead on the roof of
a mausoleum or chapel, where the cormorants or birds of
prey eat the
flesh from the
corpse. In other
portions of the
globe the dead
are placed in
trees or on poles.
It remains for
the poor Eski
mos of Green
land to show to
the civilized
world that the
dead may be
buried without
even digging
a hole in the
ground.
In Greenland, cremation, or earth-covering, or embalming,
is utterly impossible, and, owing to the climate, quite unne
cessary. The views of the cemetery at Sukkertoppen which
accompany this article were photographed by the Avriter in
August, 1894. No. 1 represents the cemetery looking north
up the fiord, with the great ice-cap and snow-mountains in the
distance, forty miles aAvay or more. No. 2 shows the ceme-
tary looking south toward Davis Straits. It is a large plot
in a canon, the rock projections exhibiting deep glacial
marks. No. 3 shoAvs a party opening graves to collect speci
mens for scientific purposes. No. 4 shows wooden enclosures,
and No. 5 the Lutheran church. All of the Eskimos south

OPENING A GRAVE.

A GREENLAND CEMETERY.

183

of Melville Bay are Lutherans, having been Christianized
many decades ago by Danish missionaries. I found that they
were poor in all things except good nature, and were espe
cially poor as to a suitable ground whereupon to deposit their
dead, there being no soil or vegetation in all that section.
Our two weeks' stay gave us ample opportunity to visit the
natives in their homes, which are simply squalid huts, but no
chance to see a funeral. However, I visited the cemetery,
and found that as there are no trees there can be no wood,
and consequently, no coffins. The only wood is either
brought from Copenhagen or caught from the drift. The

» Uiiftu n * - -
, * n fl 1 1 II H i il I 1

No. 4.— WOODEN ENCLOSURES.

dead, wrapped in sealskin, are simply laid on the surface of
the rocks. (Hair seal is the mainstay of the natives : skin
for clothes, flesh for food, fat for light and heat.) The body
h then covered to the depth of perhaps ten inches Avith moss

184

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

scraped from the sides of a friendly rock, over which are
mounded stones of various sizes to keep the body from wild
beasts, and serve as a monument. In examining illustration
No. 3 the reader will observe that the graves are simply
, stone mounds. We found in
all of the old graves only skulls,
j securing five in good condition
; in one mound, and no other
I bones. A fine collection was
! gathered, but it went down
with the Miranda.
There are exceptions to the
average mound, as may be
' noted by illustra
tion 4. The Danes,
who are in control
of all the Greenland
coast below Melville
Bay, have a wooden
enclosure surround
ing their graves, the
wood being brought
from Denmark; and
wooden crosses
mark the graves of
the more favored or
better portion of the
Eskimos. All the other graves, filled with the poor,
simple children of the frozen north, have no other monu
ment than a heap of stones, which in a later day is
overturned by some explorer in search of human frames
in the interest of science. This brief article cannot give
the reader my thoughts fully as I contemplated this God's
acre. Here are the bones of human beings, some of

No. 5.— LUTHERAN CHURCH

A GREENLAND CEMETERY. 185
them, perhaps, descendants of kings from southern climes in
centuries past, and beyond the memory or history of the liv
ing. It Avas noticeable that the mounds exhumed brought to
light mostly skulls, furnishing evidence of antiquity, as being
probably of those Avho died before the Lutheran missionaries
landed here. Yet the method of burial remains as before,
even though the present generation is blessed with religious
rites. The people on the western coast below Melville Bay
are all nominally Christians, and dispose of their dead in the
same manner as at Sukkertoppen.
7t has been frequently asked, "Why do the Eskimos
remain in the frozen region ?" The answer is plain and
simple. They know not of the outside world, and withal
have neither the desire nor facilities to leave their bleak
and desolate habitation. To bring such a race to a warmer
climate and to civilization would insure its entire extinction.
The future of this side-tracked race can only be imagined.
My opinion is that ere many decades it will become extinct.

THE ESKIMOS' TEETH, AND OTHER NOTES.

BY R. 0. STEBBINS, D.D.S.

To visit the far north, for the
purpose of studying the character
of the Eskimos, I joined Dr. Cook's
Arctic expedition of 1894.
Although our vessel was aban-
boned at sea, and all our baggage
and curios, such as skin and bone
trinkets, clothing, made by the
natives of furs and raw hide; eider
down from the duck, and other
bird skins, together Avith imple
ments of the chase, the kayak,
oomiak, and sledge-snowshoes, etc.,
Avere all lost, the memory of those curious little people is
fresh in our minds, and not likely to be obliterated by time.
Nor can Ave forget the grand mountains of rock, void of earth
and shrub, the beautiful fiords, dotted here and there with
many islands, mere rocky peaks, penetrating from the fear
ful depths beloAv; the eternal ice-cap of that glacial continent,
Avith its mighty rivers of ice, forcing their way down through
the rocky cafions, depositing great masses of ice in the fiords,
Avith a crash and splash that can be heard for miles.
The waters of the fiords seem to afford a great quantity of
nutritious seaweed and small fish, upon which feed the millions
of birds — gulls, ducks, and geese. The birds nest so close
together along the crags of the rocks that they look like
patches of snow.

THE ESKIMOS' TEETH, AND OTHER NOTES. 187
The Eskimos are very fond of eggs, and will sometimes
lay in a supply for the long Arctic night. This is done by
stripping the secretions out of the gut of a seal and refilling
with the eggs, which they break and pour in, tying up the end
of the gut. It resembles a gigantic frankfurter, and freezes
solid when the cold weather sets in. The natives break off
bits with their teeth, swallowing them uncooked with a relish.
While camping out on the moss-covered rocky banks of a
river which runs into one of the fiords, I caught with one lit
tle artificial fly two hundred and twenty salmon-trout, vary
ing in length from six to eighteen inches, landing one hun
dred and sixty-two in one day from a pool formed in the bend
of the river, beyond which the water ran very swiftiy. Al
lowing the fly to disappear in several feet of Avater, I found
the fish to be quite game, as often a small one would make
you think a ten-pounder had taken hold. All hands ate the
fish, which were fried in a skillet over an oil-stove, with
great relish, except Dr. Cramer, who did not care for fish, and
as we were short of bread and limited to one piece, I gladly
forfeited my portion in favor of the Doctor, and filled in
on fish. While returning to Sukkertoppen in an old, leaky boat,
loaded with the tents, cooking utensils, and camp traps,
together with three Eskimos to row while I handled the tiller,
I discovered that a few crackers, my supply of provender, had
become soaked in dirty bilge- water. After sitting in a cramped
position for sixteen hours, cold, stiff, and damp, from the
spray of the waves, which were tossing our boat around in a
lively manner, I was getting pretty hungry, but could not
make up my mind to tackle the dirty crackers. Presently I
noticed one of the Eskimos eating raw salmon that had been
cleaned and partially dried on the rocks before leaving camp.
It was of a rich color, and looked very tempting. I asked
for a piece. He pulled out a salmon, or rather half of one,

188 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
from an old filthy sealskin, which is a garment worn by the
Eskimos in stormy weather and used as a travelling-bag when
off duty. I trailed the fish overboard (which caused my com
panion to smile), and then let it dry, and began to pick at it.
It was not bad ; in fact, I thought it very good before I had
eaten the entire piece (about three pounds), and realized how
easy it would be to fall into the habit of eating the uncooked
food as the Eskimos do.
Before leaving New York I purchased ninety dozen Seed's
dry plates for my camera from E. W. Newcomb & Co., and
twenty boxes of their developing powders. On our trip north,
in Labrador and Greenland, I had exposed three hundred
and ninety-two plates and developed them on shipboard, mak
ing a dark room of our stateroom.
The loss of these plates, of course, I regret very much ; but
the greatest loss to me was the casts I had taken, twenty-eight
in number, of the Eskimo teeth, from childhood to old age.
Duplicates of these casts I expected to place with others
I have in the National Medical Museum, at Washington,
D. C, as there they could always have been referred to in the
scientific study of the teeth.
Years ago it was reported by sailors that the Eskimos had
double teeth all round — that is, the front teeth looked the
same as the back ones. It did not take me long to discover
the reason of this report. Upon observation, as a dentist, I
ascertained that the incisor teeth, also the cuspids and bicus
pids, were worn off blunt. As these teeth were large and
prominent, they did not look unlike molar teeth.
The older natives live entirely on fish and flesh uncooked,
and they do not chew their food, but swallow it like a dog.
This accounts for the way their teeth, as a rule, articulate,
square on the end of the incisor teeth, the molar teeth not
being used at all as masticators. In preparing bird and other
skins, the natives chew or work the skins between their front

THE ESKIMOS' TEETH, AND OTHER NOTES. 189
teeth, sucking out the oil, tearing off bits of flesh and fat,
and making the skin very soft and pliable. As their teeth
are rather soft, more like ivory in color and texture, the
manipulating of the skins wears them off a great deal. Very
little decay was observed in the mouths of the original natives.
The present generation of Greenlanders, or Danish Eskimos,
since the introduction of the cook-stove and breadstuffs by
the Danish Government, cook most of their food. Their teeth
are more brittle, and the incisor teeth are not worn off so
much, for their molar teeth are used to masticate the cooked
food, while the aborigines subsisted entirely on raw food.
Their upper incisor teeth project over the lower ones. Decay
was observed in the six-year or first molar teeth, while not a
sign of decay was discovered in any other teeth of the same
mouth. Some of the present generation are also fond of raw food
as well as cooked. While fishing up the fiord, a little fellow
asked if he could eat one of the fish I had caught. I gave
him one just taken off my hook : he held it by the head, bit
off a piece and swallowed it, then another, until the fish
stopped wriggling and he had eaten or swallowed the whole.
The eyes of the women resembled those of the Chinese.
They do their hair up very tightly on the top of their head,
and always wear it in the same way, from childhood. This
draws the skin very tight over the temples, and as they
squint at the glare of the sun during the long Arctic day,
their eyes grow on a slant. The men have small, sharp round
eyes, and their hair hangs long and loose about the head
and face.

THE FLORA OF SOUTH GREENLAND.

BY SAMUEL P. ORTH.

On the bare rocks and bleak hills
of the far north everything that has
life is of peculiar interest. The
beauties of the Arctic flora can no
where be surpassed in daintiness
and exquisite tin tings. There is no
useless flaunting of colors or gaudi-
ness, but a pure, transparent tint
which brush cannot reproduce.
There are several circumstances
which combine to make the floral
life of Greenland very interesting and
simple. The short summer makes
it necessary for all the species to bloom at one time, there
being practically no succession of flowers. The soil is shallow,
thus affording little opportunity for sprouting. The pure
atmosphere, free from dust, contributing so much to Arctic
landscape and sunset, tells also on the pure colors of the
flowers. The long day and very short night of the summer
make a double share of the sun's actinic rays possible to the
plants. This accounts for the rapid growth of vegetation.
All these circumstances create the beautiful delicate forms
which so surprised us all on our mountain climbings.
Everywhere along the coast lichens and mosses share their
tints with the landscape. The peculiar dull-red glow of the
islands and rocks is caused by a moss-like fungus covering the
ocks everywhere. Farther in the interior, lichens thrive

THE FLORA OF SOUTH GREENLAND. 191
in myriad species. Never before had I seen such a profusion
of fungi as on those cold Greenland rocks. In the pools
of the valleys mosses thrive most luxuriantly. Especially
beautiful is the sphagnum, with its lighter tints, growing
Avitli dark-red varieties in the crystal pools of mountain
streams. But the phanerogams are the most interesting to the or
dinary visitor. Nowhere can the persistence of life be more
closely studied than in these bleak regions. Wherever there
is an inch of soil, in every crack or crevice, thrives a plant.
From the deep valley to the snow-line, nature has prepared a
succession of surprises for the flower-lover. In the lowlands,
pink saxifrages and yellow buttercups thrive with our own
dwarf cornel (Cornus canadensis) and the pretty gold-foil
(Coptis trifolia). The grass plots are dotted with the golden
Arctic dandelion (Taraxacum arcticum). Fringing the hill
sides, grow the forests of willows and birches (Betula nara).
The willow is the largest Arctic shrub. Several varieties
abound, all common, all trailing around the ground or over
rocks. The largest one I measured was three-quarters of an
inch in diameter and seven feet high, including four feet of
roots. With the willows and dandelions grows the common
polygonum, perhaps the most abundant of Arctic plants, and
the banks of the streams are lined with chickweed (Cerastiwn )
which, in all of its several varieties, has exceptionally large
flowers. Farther up the mountain-side, in the lighter soil, beauti
ful red primroses and delicate bluebells greet one, while in
sandy spots the gorgeous red stonecrop (Sedum rhodiola)
presents a startling contrast to the usual blues and whites.
This stonecrop is the most extravagantly colored flower of the
North. It is often seen clinging to the perpendicular rocks,
hundreds of feet above the water-line, as you row along the
fiords.

192 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
The blueberry was perhaps the most welcome plant found.
I saw here, bud, blossom, green and ripe fruit, all on one bush.
It is scraggy and low, but the ripe berries tasted so civilized !
In all books of Arctic travel one reads so much of the Arctic
poppy, with its flaunting yellow petals. Naturally I searched
for the plant, which is so abundant farther north, but
I found only one plant, with a bare seed capsule, the petals
having fallen off.
Rarely one finds a low juniper with green berries, the
climate being adverse to the ripening of the fruit. Grasses
are confined to a feAV species. A small, pretty festuca is the
most common, making a pretty lawn on every level plot, and
often appearing in feathery tufts in the crevices of the rocks.
A large, barley-like grass, growing along the sandy beaches, is
the largest grass found. It grows about two feet high.
Of special interest is the angelica, thriving luxuriantly in
the ravines and lowlands, in sheltered places. It is the only
vegetable known to the Eskimo's palate, and is gathered in
large quantities, but never preserved for winter use. It grows
about eighteen inches high, and has the peculiar flavor which
characterizes so many umbelliferse and makes them a favorite
dish Avith us.
There are but few varieties of ferns, all growing in
sheltered places, behind rocks. The commonest is a pteris,
and occasionally one sees an ophiaglassum and aspidium.
It Avas intensely interesting to note the gradual change of
flowers as Ave stopped at A"arious places along the coast. Our
own flora was little modified at Cape Breton — only the flowers
were about three weeks later than in southern New York.
Newfoundland added several new species, including the pretty
forget-me-not, while Labrador's flora was entirely new, and
quite introductory to the Greenland flora.
Of the Labrador plants, none of us will forget the " cur
lew-berry " which grew everywhere so abundantly (found in

THE FLORA OF SOUTH GREENLAND. 193
Greenland also), and the " bake-apples" which so refreshed
us on our homeward journey when we stopped at Punch Bowl.
As the collections were all lost, it is impossible to give an
accurate list of the plants collected in Greenland, though I had
prepared a list of those found in Labrador. A safe estimate
made from my notes is the following : Phanerogams, eighty,
including five graminas and ten eyperacese. Of the pteri-
dophytes, I found one equisetum and three filices — making a
total of ninty-eight plants, excluding the mosses, fungi, and
lichens, of which there are many dozens of species. The most
complete works on the flora of South Greenland are the
Danish Government reports, which are often quite full and
interesting.

NOTE ON THE INSECTS OF SUKKER
TOPPEN.

BY L. J. W. JOYNER.

Owing to the loss (together with
I note-books) of my collection of in-
jpW^- ^ I sects, of which a very fair number
had been captured, no attempt at
any list, much less a classification,
can be made. The field appeared to
offer good opportunity to the en
tomologist during the prevalence of
the brief heat of summer. Though
coleopterous insects were expected
in some abundance, a most careful
search revealed only a few speci
mens. On the other hand, many
species of the order Diptera simply swarmed, and more than
one species of the genus Culex ; but a single species of mos
quito, considering the swarms in which they occurred, would
have been quite sufficient to arouse the keenest interest of an
average or casual observer. Acting on the principle of "Live
and let live," I always make a point of never disturbing a
mosquito at his meal ; but in Greenland I was absolutely brutal
and unreasonable. Most of us can testify to the fact that, in
spite of the cooler climate, and the consequent harder con
ditions of their life up there, these mosquitoes were by no
means slothful. Some of the flies, too (particularly when one
was busy fishing), left one's face smeared with so many verti
cal lines of clotted blood that it had to be scraped before recog-

NOTE ON THE INSECTS OF SUKKERTOPPEN. 195
nition could take place. I made several fine collections of this
species, but do not regret their loss. Among the Lepidoptera
were observed about a dozen species of Heterocera (many of
them day-flying), and of the Rhopalocera (butterflies) two
species appeared to be tolerably common — one a colias
and the other of the genus Argynnis. The order Hymenop-
tera was represented by a good number of bees, humble-bees,
and ants, and many species of ground spiders were phe
nomenally plentiful. Pulex gigas, they say, occurs in Green
land, and nowhere else, but I kept away from the Huskies.

THE FINDING OF THE RIGEL.

BY RUSSELL W. PORTER.

At the time the boat jour
ney up the coast in search of as
sistance was decided upon matters
relating to the party's welfare were
in a very bad way. As far as we
could make out, from what we
already knew and from what we
learned from the governor at
Sukkertoppen, our chances for
returning to Europe or the United
States that summer were very
slight. No more Copenhagen
trading vessels would put in at
Sukkertoppen, and Captain Farrell, of the Miranda, said
she was not safe to return in unaccompanied by another ves
sel. So our only chance was to intercept and bring to our
relief one or more of the American fishing schooners which
were usually to be found about this time somewhere off Hol
steinborg, near the Circle. Holsteinborg was one hundred
and forty miles up the coast, and with a fair wind could be
reached in a few days.
So the open-boat journey was decided on. Dr. Cook un
folded his plans to us in his cabin. In the party were Ladd,
Thompson, Rogers, Dunning, and myself. He frankly told
us what we might expect — hard work at the oars, bad weather,
camping on the rocks, etc., but we determined to go, some
of us being glad to get the chance. «

THE FINDING OF THE RIGEL. 197
The governor was kind enough to give us the use of his
twenty-one-foot whale-boat and a large tent. To these were
added provisions and bags and a crew of six Eskimos, one of
whom was a full-fledged "kayaker." We started at five
o'clock on the evening of August 10, leaving the crippled
ship amid the cheers and good wishes of our comrades. We
were soon in our oilskins, and on rounding the point at the
mouth of the harbor Ave turned north. The two spritsails
were set, and we were fairly off on our hazardous journey.
We were cramped for room; provisions, sleeping bags,
tents, and eleven men brought the gunwale uncomfortably
near the water's edge, especially when we got the full force
of the wind while crossing the mouths of the fiords, and the
tops of the waves came into the boat. The scene opening
up to us was grand and awe-inspiring, similar to what was
seen by the rest of the party in their trips about Sukkertop
pen. Realizing, as we did, the seriousness of our mission,
it made a deep impression on us. As night, or rather twi
light, dropped down about us, and the mountains far up the
fiords were reflecting the last red rays of the almost mid
night sun, the bold rocks and headlands we were passing
stood out in all their savage beauty. The sharp guttural
" uk," "puk," "tuk," terminations to the Eskimos' warnings,
as they saw the squalls coming, were weird and unnatural.
This ever-varying scene of rugged mountains and islands,
of the inland snow and the majestic fiords, was present dur
ing the entire trip. We saw it in all the lights and moods
that nature alone could give, from the clear, sharp days when
the fog-bank rolled out to sea and the clouds lifted from the
mountains, showing us the shimmering ice-cap far inland on
the horizon, to the days of wind and rain, Avhen, storm-bound
on some unknoAvn island, we watched the black cliffs frown
ing down at us through the mist and rain.
Our run the first day was forty miles in eight hours, ar-

198 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
riving at half-past one at Kangarmuit (Old Sukkertoppen),
where we were greeted with a most unearthly chorus of howls
floating out on the morning air. That night we slept in the
attic of the church, and glad we were to do so, for it saved us
pitching the tent. The next day, being rainy and "plenty
[too much] wind" outside, we spent with Chief Trader
Rosin, drinking coffee with him and trading with the natives.
We started on Sunday morning, Avith the entire populace
at the shore to see us off. A stiff, fair wind favored us, and
by eleven o'clock that night we had another forty miles to
our credit. About noon of that day we passed "Upper
Strun " fiord, the largest in western Greenland. It runs
inland over a hundred miles.
Camp Raven, named from the fact that two ravens croaked
over our tent all night, was broken early Monday morning ;
but such a wind was blowing that before we had made a mile
northing Dr. Cook gave directions to put back to shelter.
And high time it was, for as we were pitching the tent the
storm broke, and for two days and nights it continued with
such fury that it was seldom we ventured out. I never knew
what a "bloAv" was till the wind came down off those moun
tains and tried to carry away our tent. Several times we
woke and gripped the canvas, fearing it would be torn from
the guys, and several times the sides were strengthened by
additional rocks. It was the same storm that doubtless
visited the hunting parties at about that time, although from
what I learned they did not get as much Avind.
On Thursday morning, soon after midnight, there were
signs of clearing, and Dunning, on interviewing Jacob, our
one-eyed skipper, finally got him to say he would proceed.
We were all anxious to be off ; we knew the people on the
steamer were worrying about us, and we were afraid of missing
the schooners.
Itirdlek, a small, poverty-stricken place of perhaps fifty

THE FINDING OF THE RIGEL. 199
souls, was reached at eleven o'clock. The Arctic Circle had
been crossed that morning, and for the first time we were
really within the Arctic Zone. The news we heard was bad —
no schooners, and no knowledge of them. That was the gist
of our conversation with Trader Jacob Dahl.
The wind had gone down, and the mosquitoes were mak
ing life miserable, Avhen we packed up our effects, after a hasty
meal, and prepared for a thirty-mile row. We buckled down
to our task in earnest, each one in turn taking a hand at the
oars. At six o'clock that night Amerdlok fiord was crossed,
and at eight the town of Holsteinborg, our destination, was
sighted. We were greeted with open arms by Governor
Miiller, who informed us that some five schooners were off the
coast only a few miles, one having gone out only that
morning. The effect upon us of this neAvs, the feeling of joy and
relief, can be better imagined than described, and when we
were ushered into a room where actually there was a bed with
eider-down pillows, mattresses, and quilts we for the mo
ment forgot that we were shipwrecked people, and lived
entirely in the present.
There was but one hitch in this streak of good luck : we
couldn't all sleep in that bed ; so we drew lots, and Ladd,
Thompson, and I bunked out on the floor. Dr. Cook and
Rogers slept on the feathers. Next night, however, I very
conveniently became ill, which obviously gave me the right to
the bed, so I experienced the pleasant change from rocks and
boards to eider-down and linen.
When I awoke next morning I heard these words uttered
by Dr. Cook : "Thompson, I want you, Rogers, and Porter
to take a telescope and climb that mountain across the harbor
to look for a schooner ; if you see a sail, note its bearing and
return at once." We had no sooner crossed the harbor and

200 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
begun the ascent than Rogers saw a vessel putting in south of
us — at Nepisat, we thought — and he started back immediately
to inform the Doctor, while Thompson and I went on up the
mouutain. I shall never forget that ascent. First we got into the
fog, later into rain, and finally, when about two-thirds of the
Avay up, we found ourselves in a blinding snow-storm. We
kept on, and finally reached the summit, some 2,000 feet above
the sea-level, glorying in the fact that it was August and that
Ave were knee-deep in snow.
I took several snap shots on this little trip, one in par
ticular of a beautiful waterfall near the base of the mountain,
which I regret exceedingly was lost.
I saw my first and only game in Greenland as we were ap
proaching the foot of the mountain in the boat. It was a
blue fox, and a small one at that. The little fellow watched
us from the shore until we had almost landed, when, with a
bark very much like that of a dog, he scampered off over the
rocks. As soon as Dr. Cook heard of the sail we had seen ne
despatched a kayaker with instructions to intercept the vessel
and deliver despatches stating our distress and asking for as
sistance. For the rest of the day we wandered about the town,
taking pictures, and watching the governor exercise his dogs at
tached to a sledge, which they drew over the lawn in the yard
in fine style. At meal times Mr. Muller spread a bountiful
repast, at which he insisted we should all be j^resent, and
Avhich it is unnecessary to say we all enjoyed immensely after
the scanty meals we had coming up the coast.
I cannot speak too highly of this gentleman's courtesy and
unbounded hospitality to us while we were under his roof.
There was nothing too good for us, and Avhen the time for
parting came, sincere regret was expressed by the entire
family. They lived in the same comfortable, almost luxurious^

THE FINDING OF THE RIGEL. 201
style as Governor Bistrup, at Sukkertoppen, with all modern
conveniences, from a beautiful upright piano down to a snap
shot camera.
To return to the mission nearest our hearts. The climax
came the second evening, August 1G, while we were in the
governor's study. There was a commotion at the wharf, and
some urchin ran in sputtering something about strangers at the
dock, and we all rushed to the gate at the brow of the hill to
see what the matter was. Coming up the narrow path was a
sight which moved me, and I believe the rest of our little band,
more than any other event of the trip, not even excepting the
accident. Swinging from side to side, and clad in their oilskins and
sou'westers, were five Gloucester fishermen. They had heard
of our mishap, and had come post-haste to Holsteinborg in a
dory. The spokesman, a man Avhose name is now a house
hold Avord in many homes, was taken into the governor's house
and our case was laid before him, and very soon we saw how
matters stood. The noble fellow was standing between sym
pathy and duty. In justice to his crew and the owners of his
vessel, he could not abandon his cruise for the sake of a party
of unfortunate strangers. Yet such was his love for human
ity, seeing that we were staring the prospects of a winter
in Greenland in the face, he felt what he would want another
man to do if he were in our place. He left us with these
words : " I must see my crew. If you see my vessel in the
offing to-morrow morning flying her flag you will understand
that I have decided to take you to your friends at Sukker
toppen." The morning came, and with it the schooner. All that
which follows is an old story ; that is, after we reached
our party on August 20. We rowed to the schooner, our
effects Avere put aboard, and our crew of faithful, dirty Hus
kies left us with the whale-boat to make their way to Sukker-

202 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
toppen by themselves. The good schooner Rigel weathered
out a moderate gale off Kangarmuit and finally drew up along
side the Miranda, surrounded by the whole of the populace
in their boats.
Thus ended ten days of the most delightful experiences of
my life. Nothing have I ever given up with a more lingering
regret than the sight of " Greenland's icy mountains" fading
away in the dim, purple distance.

THE TRIP TO HOLSTEINBORG.

BY MAYNARD LADD.

Mr. Porter has had the pleas
ant task of telling the story of the
trip to Holsteinborg in search of a
vessel to bring the passengers and
crew of the Miranda back to home
and friends. I do not wish to en
croach upon his ground, and, as I
have not seen his narrative, I may
prove a trespasser. If this be the
case I offer my apologies to Mr.
Porter and to whomever may chance
to read these fragmentary reminis
cences.
We six — Dr. Cook, Porter, Rogers, Thompson, Dunning,
and I — enjoyed a novelty of incidents in that eventful trip of
ten days which made it to us the most memorable experience
of the expedition. My mind dwells with most interest on
the first and last days of the journey. Up to the time we
stepped down the gangway ladder into the boat and pulled
out of the harbor of Sukkertoppen amid the cheers and eager
God-speeds of our companions, events had turned from bad to
worse, until the good-natured acquiescence of the passengers
to their continual ill-luck was surely changing to a feeling
of anxious apprehension. In retrospect, it seems as if the
spell of misfortune which had f olloAved us with such persistency
became broken from the moment we lost sight of the Miran
da as we rounded the rocky promontory which enclosed the
northern part of the harbor.

204 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
A favoring breeze freshened our hopes as it speeded us in
the direction of Kangarmuit. That evening's sail was rare
sport. The wind grew stronger and stronger, driving us
along at a pace that left our swift kayaker far astern, and we
were finally obliged to lay to under the lee of an island to
await his coming. When we had taken him and his canoe
aboard we numbered eleven persons, who, with the tents,
provisions, and sundry luggage, weighted our twenty-foot
boat about to her limit. How well I remember that evening !
We six were snugly packed in the stern, our knees locked,
and every inch of room occupied. In the bow Avere the four
Huskie sailors, and behind us sat old Jacob Neilson, our half-
breed pilot, blind in one eye, but, as we had many oppor
tunities to prove, still skilful in the art of sailing between
dangerous shoals and ugly-looking reefs.
Toward eleven o'clock it grew moderately dark, and heavy
gusts of wind began to sweep over the water at frequent
intervals, gradually increasing in strength. One of the sails
had to be taken in, and often the second also, when a partic
ularly heavy blast made the little boat tip to one side until the
water flowed over the gunwale. The Huskies, crouched low
on the windward side, kept a close lookout for the squalls.
Every minute or two came their warning shouts to Jacob, and
a moment later the strain upon the masts bore witness to the
keen sight of the natives. Our pilot's skill never failed him,
however, and we soon acquired confidence in him and the
staunch little boat. The shoals and reefs which surrounded
us looked ominous in the dusky light, but only once did they
seriously threaten us ; and then our rudder became unshipped
and we were being driven rapidly toAvard the rocky shore.
The oars were quickly put in place, and a little vigorous pull
ing prevented any accident.
As we neared Kangarmuit we got under the lee of the
islands. The sailing grew quiet and less exciting. The

THE TRIP TO HOLSTEINBORG. 205
Eskimos relaxed their vigilance, and, crowding close to
each other for warmth, sang weird native songs. Cold and
fatigued from our cramped position, we dozed as best we
could. Morning was dawning as we entered the harbor of
Kangarmuit, or Old Sukkertoppen, amid a grand chorus of
howls from a colony of dogs, which gave to the slumbering
village the first intimation of the presence of strangers.
For several days the Avind blew strongly from the south
west and the sea and sky were threatening. If the condition
of the elements was at times unfavorable to our plans, it had
the redeeming feature of adding to the picturesqueness and
impressiveness of the scenery along the coast. We were once
encamped on a little island, named by us "Windy Cove,"
for thirty-six hours, during which the gale, which had been
steadily gaining in violence since our first night, finally
ended. Not until midnight of the fourth day was the Avater
smooth enough for a boat like ours to venture out. So we
made a midnight breakfast, broke up our camp, and at two
o'clock in the morning embarked for a run of twenty-two
hours to Holsteinborg.
The air was cold and piercing after the storm. If we suf
fered some discomforts in consequence, we were richly com
pensated for it by the magnificence of the scenery. The
heavy black clouds remained, though the wind had mod
erated, giving a wild and unnatural look to the rugged coast.
North and south, as far as the eye could reach, lay a grand
chain of mountain ranges. In distant spots one could see
the great white masses of the inland ice, which cast its glare
into the sky with intense brightness. BetAveen them and the
sea, still spotted with foamy whitecaps, rose a great barrier
of mountains split into a hundred ragged peaks. Some pro
jected into the heavens for several thousand feet ; some
seemed like ruined castles built on impregnable heights, and
many ended at the very Avater's edge in steep precipices that

206 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
extended almost perpendicularly from the base to the top.
Between them, the overhanging glaciers dipped into the mas
sive fissures, and deep, beautiful fiords ran for miles back tow
ard the interior. The new-fallen snow completely covered
the upper portion of the peaks, its brightness intensified by
the dark blue of the mountains below the sharply marked
snow-line. As the morning advanced, the sun began to
pierce the heavy clouds, making a thousand different lights
and shadows, and giving an effect the beauty and grandeur of
which were truly inspiring.
Many times we wished the rest of the party might have
witnessed these scenes. We began to realize what might have
been our enthusiasm for Greenland and Arctic voyages if
fate had not so suddenly brought the expedition to an end.
I feel that we were most fortunate to have had the oppor
tunity of viewing so much of the Greenland coast. We also
had a chance to compare the natives of the different settle
ments. Kangarmuit did not differ much in character from
Sukkertoppen, except that it was smaller and the Eskimos
were, on the whole, less prosperous. In Itirdlek, however, one
could not fail to notice the contrast. The natives were
abjectly poor and dirty, and their houses, as a rule, were far
worse than those of the most degraded in Sukkertoppen.
In Holsteinborg all was different. An air of comparative
respectability and prosperity impressed itself upon us at once.
A suspicion of cleanliness, both of the houses and inhabitants,
Avas very evident, and after our visits at Kangarmuit and
Itirdlek we felt we had reached Greenland's metropolis. The
neat and spacious quarters of Governor Miiller and his assis
tant, Herr Koch, and the government buildings for the seal-
oil industry, naturally formed the bulk of the settlement.
Perhaps our royal reception at the hands of Governor Miiller
and his hospitable wife had much to do with our favorable
impressions of the place. They certainly showed us every

HE TRIP TO HOLSTEINBORG. 207
kindness and courtesy. If it had not been for the active ser
vices of the Governor in our behalf, the result of our trip
would probably have been very different.
As the anniversary of the events related in this history of
the Miranda's last voyage recurs we all undoubtedly find our
thoughts reverting to the scenes through which we passed.
I venture to say that in these contributions from the different
members of the expedition there will be at least one point of
agreement: — we are all glad we went, and doubly glad to have
happened upon so noble a rescuer as Captain Dixon, of the
Rigel.

ICEBERGS.

BY ARTHUR R. THOMPSON.

From the far Northland ceaselessly
they come,
Like errant knights, a-sailing
down the sea,
That alien men may guess the
majesty
And splendor of the mighty Frost
King's home.
Firm and immutable they seem,
and fling
The baffled surges back in high
disdain,
As if such puny onsets must be vain
'Gainst the proud structures of the Arctic King.

Well might old minstrels sing the monarch's fame
Within those steel-blue caverns of the ice,
Where crystal arches, carved in fretwork nice,
His lavish wealth and royal power proclaim.

But as I listen, 'tis no song I hear ;
No hoary minstrel from his cavern sings,
Nor with enfeebled fingers tunes the strings :
A sound more stern, more awful, meets my ear.

ICEBERGS. 209
Hark ! from the depths of yonder glistening mass
Come thunderings, as if the mighty Thor
Had made his fortress there, and offered war
To Ocean's monsters from a throne of glass.
Yet sea-birds shy, as 'twere no fearsome place,
Alight and rest, and dolphins round it play
Within the circle of its surf and spray :
Men only turn in terror from its face.
So trend the monsters southward haughtily,
Admired, and feared, and wondrous for a time,
Till 'neath the soft, insidious southern clime
They fall — the prey of Sun and fawning Sea.

A GREENLAND SUNDAY.

BY CHARLES BLAKE CARPENTER.

It was a curious but reverently
conducted service that we attended
at St. James' Church, Sukkertop
pen, on August 12. It was a cold,
gray misty morning ; such a one as
in the land of Christian civilization
would have soothingly induced the
indifferent church-goer to remain
quietly at home, conscientiously
absorbed in the quantity of his
Sunday journal. But the Eskimos
— let this virtue be duly regarded —
" are not fair-weather Christians, and
the congregation was large, in consequence. The ladies have
no goAvns to ruin, no feathers to uncurl, no frizzes to " come
out ; " nor do silk hats or creased trousers concern the gentle
men. In a pouring rain, therefore, with no umbrellas, all
maintain a cheerful countenance and a peace of mind not
even remotely disturbed by a shadow of " things correct" as
to cut or shape — and go to church. In singular contrast is
this spirit to the immortal utterance of one of New England's
daughters who, in a contemplative mood, remarks : " There
is a repose in the consciousness of being perfectly well
dressed that even religion cannot bestow." The revelation of
this truth has yet to dawn upon the Eskimo mind. When it
does, together Avith other truths of a highly enlightened
nature, the repose in primitive simplicity on the part of the

A GREENLAND SUNDAY. 211
Greenlanders — that happy independence of a contented people
— will be forfeited.
It was the novelty of the situation that induced the
American contingent of that singularly strange congregation
to be present at a service than Avhich nothing but the spirit
in which it was held could be appreciated.
At ten o'clock we were all at the church — a whitewashed
stone building with a wooden front, the wood having been
brought from Denmark — Avhose spire, surmounted by a cross,
manifests in a strong and beautiful way how in every tribe
and kindred the symbol of Christianity is being uplifted. It
was not long ago that these people were pagans, and farther
north and on the eastern coast many still hold to the crude
belief of their forefathers. In the spring of 1894 the first
missionary station on the eastern shores was established.
The work and zeal of missions are spreading, though marked
results are hard to determine. The first bell had called to
gether a motley number, who stood idly about the doors of
the church, smiling good-naturedly, and maintaining a re
spectful silence. At the ringing of the second bell more
church-comers hurried from their little igloos. No one
entered until Mr. Petersen first Avent in. Mr. Petersen, a
half-breed, studied at Copenhagen for two years, and is the
licensed catechist of the parish, as Avell as the village school
master. His father, an old man Avith a kind face, assists
him. The service is Lutheran. Once each year a regular
priest visits the parish to confirm, administer the sacraments,
and perform the marriage rites. Marriage is the outcome of
an exceedingly brief courtship, during which there is no time
allowed for "Huyler's" or floAvers to be sentimentally be
stowed ; in fact, there is nothing pathetically civilized about
an Eskimo engagement, but, through Christian influence, let
it be said, marriage is honorably regarded.
At the service on this morning in question Mr. Petersen,

212 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
Sr., officiated, and his son presided at the organ. The front
pews had been reserved for us, and in our rear this strange con
gregation — the men on one side and the women on the other —
arranged themselves, the children sitting in front of them,
upon whom the watchful eye could rest and interrupt any
enthusiastic diversions from the service itself. A period of
the most violent coughing ensued, consumption being com
mon among them — a result of careless liAang and the mixture
of the Danish and Eskimo races.
The interior of the church Avas neatly painted in white and
light-blue, the altar covered with a cloth of red, with fieur de
lis embroidered in gold. On the altar were two eueharistic
lights and a crucifix. Completing the chancel's furnishings
Avere the lectern and old-fashioned pulpit, and a small reed
organ. A stove in Avhich peat is burned, near the centre of
the nave, afforded the necessary heat. The service was begun
in a low, tearful voice, and maintained throughout in the same
monotone. While nothing, of course, could be understood by
us, the service Avas nevertheless impressive. A few opening
sentences were first read, then the Lord's Prayer ; a chant
followed, sung in perfect harmony, but very slowly. The
Eskimos have good voices and an excellent sense of harmony.
It took fifteen minutes to sing this chant. A chapter was
then read, after which, for the first time, the congregation
rose to repeat some short versicle. A very unimpassioned
sermon of twenty-three minutes was read, during which one
man gave way to occasional snores. At the close of the ser
mon they arose for the ascription. A hymn followed, then a
prayer and the grace, and the service was ended. At six
o'clock that evening we returned for our own service. To
my surprise, there were about two hundred Eskimos waiting
around the church. It was a most curious congregation, and
impressed me singularly. In the front pews sat some of our
university professors, several physicians, lawyers, men of

A GREENLAND SUNDAY. 213
business, college students, the Danish Governor, his wife and
family, the Assistant Governor and his wife, about thirty of
the Miranda's creAv, and in the rear, closely seated together,
Avere the Huskies, the peculiar fashion of wearing the hair,
with their various-colored ribbons, producing a strange effect.
A sermon of Dr. Liddon's was read. An Eskimo organist
played the hymns Avhich I had arranged, through Mrs. Bis-
trup, the governor's wife, as interpreter, should be played in
the order as marked when I shook my head. We sang "Blest
Be the Tie That Binds," "Abide with Me," "Nearer, My
God, to Thee," and " Coronation."
" Let every kindred, every tribe,
On this terrestrial ball,
To Him all majesty ascribe,
And crown Him Lord of all,"
seemed fittingly appropriate. " From Greenland's Icy Moun
tains " would have been gladly sung, but our chances of remain
ing there for one whole year seemed unpleasantly certain.
The church was provided with no alms-basin, and when
the offertory sentence was announced Commodore Gardner
passed Mr. Cleveland's hat among our own members of
the congregation, and the offering was afterwards presented to
the governor, to be used for the benefit of the church. Fortu
nately, the organist played the hymns in the order of their
announcement, and the service proceeded reverently. Though
it is a sad reflection, it cannot be denied that Professor Dyche
was prominently asleep — a lethargic effect, in all probability,
of the Greenland mountain air.
I could not but be impressed, as we read that evening in
the Psalter for the twelfth day, with the force of the words :
" Thou that art the hope of all the ends of the earth and of
them that remain in the broad sea ; " and again, " They that
dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth shall be afraid at
Thy tokens." And then it seemed sad to think how utterly

214 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
lost must be the meaning of those words that follow in the
same beautiful Psalm : " Thou waterest her furrows. Thou
sendest rain into the little valleys thereof, Thou makest it
soft with the drops of rain and blessest the increase of it.
Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness, and Thy clouds
drop fatness. They shall drop upon the dwellings of the
wilderness, and the little hills shall rejoice on every side. The
folds shall be full of sheep, the valleys also shall stand so thick
with corn that they shall laugh and sing." Eskimos have
no idea of furrows. They have never seen sheep, nor sheep
folds, nor corn. The beauty is lost to them, and they are
not aware of the existence of so many of our most familiar
things. Fortunately, in no way is this knowledge neces
sary for their practical welfare or happiness. The hard,
cold facts of Arctic theology must be referred to some native
doctor of divinity for consistent explanation. Emerging in
comparatively recent times from the strange superstitions of
which their folk-lore tells us, their appreciation of some of
the fundamental doctrines of the Christian religion has yet to
develop. Christian influence, however, has brought about
many changes, and they are wisely instructed in religion in
a natural native way, without the unnecessary accompaniments
of a foreign civilization being thrust upon them — their means
of living not admitting of these advantages. Far better for
them to know and feel the real truth of religion according to
their own standard of civilization, however crude that may
seem — to be taught their duty in that state of life in which
God has placed them — than to introduce a civilization which
would breed a spirit of discontent and lead to the extermina
tion of the race.
After church we were delightfully entertained by the gov
ernor and his family, and so our Sunday amid Greenland's icy
mountains came to an end, leaving impressions which will
long be pleasantly remembered.

OUR ADVENTURES AT SUKKERTOPPEN

BY CARLYLE GARRISON.

At Governor Bistrup's house
we were heartily welcomed. On
August 9 we started for Disco. A
storm seemed impending, and the
wind was blowing half a gale. Cap
tain Farrell's charts were old, so he
had to rely on the pilot who took us
out. The pilot left us about 8 A. m.,
after giving directions to Captain
Farrell. What these were, opinions
differ. However, when we had
steamed about seven miles on our
course, and were still near the rocky
shores, our ship met with the accident that eventually caused
us to abandon her.
About half-past eight o'clock, while we were all at break
fast, a slight grating was heard, then it ceased for a moment ;
but as the Miranda sank into the trough of the sea she
crashed down upon a hidden reef, throwing men from their
feet and piling the dishes indiscriminately at one end of the
dining-room — and the third time that she came down on the
reef Ave all felt instinctively that the ship would sink, so a
scramble for the deck occurred, thus rendering the com-
panionway a scene of the AA'ildest excitement.
But when we arrived on deck the confusion was over, and
those who were sparsely attired even ventured to go below

216 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
and finish their toilet. To show how the mind acts under
intense excitement, one man rushed to his stateroom and
gravely told his companion to save all the tobacco that he
had. The latter carefully poured from a tin box about three
pipe-loads of the sacred stuff and tied it up in a paper bag ;
then remembering the ship's condition, he rushed on deck.
The whistle was blown and the cannon fired so as to at
tract the attention of those on shore.
After waiting some time we saw two small specks appear
on the crest of a wave, but in another instant they had disap
peared. Noav the specks would appear and disappear at short
intervals, and again we would lose sight of them for some time.
Finally they reached the side of the Miranda, and proved to
be kayaks. Climbing up the ladder, the first Eskimo, rush
ing to the bridge where the captain stood, pointed over the
starboard bow, and exclaimed, in an excited tone, "No
goot ! " then pointing to his mouth, he wavered as though he
were about to fall. The battle with the waves had completely
exhausted him. Water Avas soon brought to him, and had the
desired effect.
About an hour later we were moored in the harbor of Suk
kertoppen. The engineer made an examination, and found
that the water-ballast tank was filled with water and could
not be cleared. He also found two small holes, which were
immediately plugged. In such a condition it was impossible
to attempt to cross Davis Straits, so we must hunt for aid.
We learned that several American fishing schooners were
anchored at Holsteinborg, about one hundred and forty miles
north of Sukkertoppen. The outlook was not very pleasant,
for if we did not get another ship we should have to winter in
Greenland, which meant probable death to some of us.
Dr. Cook got up a party to go to Holsteinborg. He pro
cured a boat from Governor Bistrup. It was twenty-four feet
long, carrying two sails, with five Eskimos to manage it. Two

OUR ADVENTURES AT SUKKERTOPPEN. 217
other parties went out for pleasure : one under Professor
Wright, of Oberlin College, to visit the glaciers, and the
other under Henry Collins Walsh, the historian of the party,
to kill reindeer.
During the two weeks that we remained in Greenland
we had many opportunities of seeing the characteristics of the
Eskimos. At a dance given in the governor's yard a young
man from the Miranda failed to find a pa'rtner, but soon an
Eskimo, seeing him looking on, brought his wife to dance
Avith him. After the dance the Eskimo came up to him
and said, " Un crowner," meaning that he wanted a crown
for letting his wife dance, but I am afraid that he failed to
collect the money.

THE ILLUSTRATIONS.

BY RUDOLF KERSTING,
OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER.

Seventeen cameras on board
the Miranda, and seventeen minds
differing in their objects and views.
Had the steamer been able to go
over the intended route and given
the travellers the time proposed,
never would a more complete pic
torial record of Arctic travel, sport,
and scientific aspects have been
made. As it Avas, the scope of sub
jects in the illustrations is much
more varied than any one, two, or
three men, amateur or professional,
could have procured.
Something over a thousand plates, mostly developed, were
lost when the steamer was abandoned. The writer lost over
six hundred eight by ten negatives.
The illustrations in this book are products of the cameras of
members of the expedition, with the exception of five. These
were reproduced from originals taken by a native Eskimo
photographer at Godthaab, who spent two years in Denmark,
and is quite proficient in the art ; and two of the illustrations
have been reproduced from sketches. A few remarks con
cerning the photographers and their work will add to the
interest of the illustrations.
Professor William H. Brewer, of Yale, photographed with
excellent success, paying much attention to lighting his sub-

W. n. BREWER G. FRED'K WRIGHT F. B. WRIGHT

JAMES D. DEWELL

C. B. CARPENTER RUD. KERSTING

E. P. LYON

n. u. STEBBINS

n. W. PORTER

A. K. ROGERS J- H. FORDYCE

G. W. GARDNER JULES F, VALLg I, L. DYCHE A. K. THOMPSON A. a. BROWN

220 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
jects, the geological formations of rocks, dikes, traps, and
eruptive basalt.
Professor G. Fred. Wright, of Oberlin, and his son Fred,
an able assistant, were especially interested in glacial forma
tions, photographing glacier fronts, tops, moraines, etc.
Their views are among the best, as far as execution and selec
tion of subjects are concerned. Unfortunately, many of their
finest views were lost.
James D. Dewell, using a camera for the first time,
astonished every one with the fine results of his work. He was
interested particularly in the subject of cemeteries, and to this
we are indebted for the fine vieAvs of Sukkertoppen Cemetery
and its beautiful scenic surroundings. Charles B. Carpenter,
a theological student, also handling a camera for the first
time, had the good fortune to save all of his photographs
— about one hundred and seventy in number. The majority
of illustrations in this book are from his work. Thanks to his
turn of mind, we have, among others, pictures of the church,
the Petersen family, and the governors and their families.
Elias P. Lyon, professor of biology, naturally contributed
scenes and views particularly appropriate to his studies.
Eoswell 0. Stebbins, D.D.S., had the misfortune to lose
about three hundred negatives, the majority relating to his
study of the formation of Eskimo teeth and jaws. Thanks
to his magazine camera, we have a dozen views of the expedi
tion up Isortok fiord, of which he was a member. Photo
graphs by him, taken on the return trip after reaching Labra
dor, are unquestionably the best extant.
Eussell W. Porter also lost all his Greenland views, but
contributes a few good illustrations from life on board the
Rigel. A. P. Rogers saved two plates, which are the only
pictures we have of First Mate Manuel and Ice-pilot Dumphy.
John R. Fordyce also saved his entire collection, numbering
about two hundred.

THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 221
All the above-mentioned gentlemen saved more or less
of their work, but the following lost their negatives and cam
eras : Dr. Jules F. Valle, for twenty years a noted amateur,
had undoubtedly the finest collection of native character-
studies ever collected. Professor L. L. Dyche, the naturalist,
Commodore G. W. Gardner, A. R. Thompson, and A. B.
Brown trusted too much to the staunchness of the Miranda,
and have nothing for their labor.
Never did a set of men work more harmoniously, ear
nestly, and enthusiastically than did my friends, the amateur
photographers of the Cook Arctic Expedition of 1894.

A LETTER FROM HON. GEO. W. GARDNER.

Wjfc^y/9r(

Dear Old Shipmate : — From
the moil and turmoil of a business
life, I rest to think over the haps
and mishaps occurring to that royal
good company who trusted them
selves to an ill-fitted and ill-fated
iron steamship which sailed her
final cruise, ending disastrously and
yet so fortunately for us, though
she now lies in the depths of the
great northern sea. Shall we ever
forget her name — the Miranda — or
the ceaseless, untiring efforts for a
successful voyage on the part of her good commander, or the
noble - hearted captain who, with his whole-souled crew,
rescued us by giving up an opportunity for financial success,
in deviating from the object of his trip, generously providing
us, in his good ship the Rigel, a safe passage to an accessible
port, that we might continue on in the light of this life and
its enjoyments with those most dear to us ? So long as this
life lasts, we certainly shall not.
What a transition, from the horrors of a shipwrecked con
dition — the insatiable longing for something palatable when
afar off on Greenland's icy shore, patiently, hopefully wait
ing for succor — to the courteous hospitality of good Governor
Bistrup, who never before spoke an English word till, with
our teaching, he uttered that well-known sentence, " Many
happy days," and to Mrs. Governor Bistrup, his charming
wife, who in a most kindly manner greeted us so warmly

A LETTER FROM HON. GEO. W. GARDNER. 223
that the chill of the Arctic air Avas dissipated, and we moved
in the thirty-third degree of Danish Greenland social enjoy
ment. What a change from the time when we were studying
latitude and longitude, dodging the treacherous ice-fields that
persistently surrounded us, peering in dense fogs that ever
followed us, and fearing the almost certainty of dangerous
reefs beneath us. You haven't forgotten, dear old shipmate —
for our companionship 'midst all the discomforts of a dan
gerous cruise made us dear, each to the other — you cannot
have forgotten the delicious enjoyment of that, to us, odd but
elegant dinner given us by our friends, Governor and Mrs.
Bistrup, in their dove-nest, the only civilized — though small
in compass — residence in that community of happy, peaceable,
dirty Eskimos, who informed us in the good Huskie language
that we all learned to know that Sukkertoppen was the name
of the settlement where, with them, seal meat as fat as the
Huskies who ate it raw was the staple diet. But we Avere
not obliged eat it, for our governor's family were endowed
with the greatest of social virtues, a generous hospitality, the
more appreciated because the less anticipated.
How we wondered whence came those dishes, served so
graciously and with such congeniality, Avithout ostentatious
display, and how good they tasted to the staiwing explorers !
Deer sausage, prepared like Hamburg steaks, a fish dish
tasting not unlike and resembling head-cheese, green peas,
fruit, jam, radishes — real fresh radishes — about the size of a
hazel nut, grown during the only month of Greenland sunny
Aveather in the governor's garden of actual soil — a garden
about ten feet by four — a wonderful garden of this one vege
table, for be it known that Greenland's strands are but rock,
snow, and ice. Excuse this digression, but I felt obliged
to explain how it came that we had fresh radishes. To
these were added black and white bread, Danish butter,
pickles, schnapps, sherry, madeira, and beer. Then followed

224 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
the dessert of wafers, Swiss cheese, bread, coffee with goat's
milk, brandy, and cigars.
No epicure could have been more agreeably surprised with
a " feast fit for the gods " than was this Arctic shipwrecked
party with the dainties so freely given by our generous hosts.
Aud now, good friend, comes the query : Avhat benefit
to man have these Arctic explorations wrought ? A knowl
edge of the natives of the wild northern wastes, whose origin
is unknown, their habits and mode of living, of the formation
of glaciers and their movements, the presence of whales, cod,
halibut, and of innumerable marine birds and polar bears,
and a cryolite formation, is about the sum and substance ; yet
so long as the faith of nations, of historical and scientific as
sociations, and of purse-plethoric individuals is not exhausted,
the ambitious will continue attempts that are always fraught
Avith privations, horrible suffering, and death to fathom the
mysterious, if not mythical, elusive North Pole ; to render
possible the determination of the lines of variation in the
magnetic needle, for which mariners would be eternally
grateful, and to discover a northwest passage that would
never be frequented. Is it worth the while ? Old shipmate,
let you and me give all the chance and glory for future,
probably futile, attempts to those who think they like heroic
martyrdom.
George W. Gardner.
To H. C. Walsh.

A LETTER FROM PROF. B. C. JILLSON.

My Dear Mr. Walsh : — You
ask me to write something for your
Arctic book concerning that part
of our trip which most interested
me. Now, my dear fellow, should
I comply with your request, you
would receiAre a volume as big as
Webster's Dictionary, for every
moment of the two months and a
half was full of intense interest —
some of it too intense to be par
ticularly pleasant.
The icebergs made an impression
on me not easily effaced. How large they were, and how
beautiful ! Huge cubical blocks of ice measuring hundreds
of feet on a side, reflecting the light like a mirror, or spark
ling like ten thousand diamonds ; large " hay stacks," as
white as the driven snow, floating on a polished sea ; grand
old cathedrals, with their turrets and towers and pinnacles
and steeples ; enormous fortifications with perpendicular sides,
their tops crowned with battlements, Avith embrasures for
cannon and long cracks like loop-holes for musketry. And
what beautiful plays of colors were produced as the light was
reflected from their sides and from the deep crevices, or from
the caves and caverns studded with icicles, making the mass
glow Avith green and blue, like a huge topaz, or emerald, or
amethyst ! and these beautiful sights we witnessed day after
day, never the same, but always varying in form and color.
Do you remember that night Avhen we were lost off the
coast of Labrador and rowed from 6 a. m. till 2 : 30 p. m.

226 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
before we reached the ship ? Oh, how cold it Avas ! and Avhen
Ave landed on that island how I shivered, and hoAV the others
— good felloAvs as they were— almost smothered me with
blankets and overcoats ; and Iioav my chattering teeth bit off
the stem of a pipe before I had taken a single puff ; and how
we ran and danced, and swung our arms to keep the blood in
motion ! And that same night how the auroras streaked the
sky, now here, now there, with their long lines of quivering
light looking like spears in the trembling hands of giants !
And aftei'Avards on the Rigel, Avhat a magnificent aurora that
was swinging over our heads, its great folds beaming with rose
and purple light, trembling as though shaken by some
mysterious power ! And another night on the Miranda,
when a rainboAV appeared longer and wider than any we
had ever seen, with the most beautiful and varying tints, with
streamers shooting upAvard and downward from the great
arch, and with the trembling, wavy motion so characteristic
of the " Merry Dancers of the North."
I remember you were in the party that took two dories and
rowed twenty-four miles up the Isortok fiord, in Greenland, to
visit some glaciers. What a fine sight was that we witnessed
on our return, as the sun sank behind that long line of moun
tains whose top, notched like a saw, was clear cut against the
sky. What exquisite colors : how they changed and varied in
tint, and how long the twilight lasted, Avith its after-glow !
Mr. Stokes, the artist of Peary's first expedition, gave an ex
hibition here in Pittsburgh of his paintings of Arctic scenery,
sunsets, auroras, etc. Nearly every one who saw these views
thought them exaggerated — that such a coloring of nature
Avas impossible. We know better, for we ha\'e seen it, not
once or twice, but repeated and varied day after day and night
after night ; to see such colors is worth all it costs, even if
one loses all his worldly goods and is obliged to come home on
a fishing smack.

A LETTER FROM PROF. B. C. JILLSON. 227
When the Miranda lay in the harbor of Sukkertoppen, a
few hours after your party had started on a hunting trip, my
self and seven others, with five Eskimos, left to study the
glaciers at the head of Ikamiut fiord. For eleven days we
lived in a small tent pitched on a narrow neck of land where
two fiords meet. It was cold and stormy, and we were sub
jected to many inconveniences, but were amply repaid by the
result of our studies and by living in the midst of such grand
scenery, with such strange surroundings. We had for neigh
bors fifteen natives — nine women and six men — who lived in
two igloos — miserable huts made of rough stone covered with
sod. We were surrounded by solid rocks, which rose straight
from the water a thousand or more feet, their tops covered
with snow and ice which extended in long arms nearly to the
water's edge. Several glaciers were in vieAV, and our ears
were frequently saluted by the boom ! boom ! like the dis
charge of heavy artillery, as icebergs broke from the parent
mass and floated away. As we rowed over the fiords, or
climbed the rough rocks, or Avandered over the glaciers, not a
tree was to be seen — not a shrub. Only a little grass between
the rocks and a few flowers gave life to this " Land of Deso
lation." On Sunday we held service, to which our Eskimo friends
were invited. The front of our tent was thrown back, and
we sat at the entrance, while before us on our boat-seats were
the natives clothed in their picturesque costumes made of
fur. Of course, we did not omit that grand old missionary
hymn, " From Greenland's Icy Mountains," and we sang it,
too, as we never sang it before, for were we not in the midst
of those very mountains covered with ice and snow, and those
wonderful fiords with their floating icebergs ? Is it any won
der that our thoughts frequently wandered to that far distant
land where our friends were worshipping with such different
surroundings ?

228 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA
Why, my dear fellow, everything interested me. Every
day brought something new and strange. I believe I could
write volumes about the magnificent scenery of Greenland
and its wonderful system of glaciers and fiords ; about the
funny little women with divided skirts, their heads adorned
with red and blue and green ribbons and crowned Avith a
Psyche knot, while perhaps a little bright-eyed baby cooed
from the golf hood on the back of its mother ; about the kay-
akers and their remarkable kayaks, how they would glide over
the stormy sea where no white man dared venture, and how
they would roll over and over, noAv in the water and now out,
wetting only their hands and face. And their harpoons !
how ingeniously they were made, as well as their weapons for
capturing the seal, walrus, and other game — but why write
more ? Every day was full of interest, from the rising of the
sun to the going down thereof. Only yesterday a man said
to me, " I ne\_er heard of any one who went in the vicinity of
the North Pole who didn't Avant to go again, and you are an
other of those Arctic cranks. I don't understand it." Well,
Ave do ; we've been there.
I cannot close without a word of praise for good Captain
Dixon and his crew, who came to our rescue when in dire dis
tress, and, with great pecuniary loss and inconvenience, took
us to a place of safety. They are a good type of the New
England fishermen — brave, venturesome, kind-hearted, and
ever ready to help the unfortunate. May God bless each one
of them with a long and happy life.
B. C. Jillson.

^mi-

It was on
the steamer Por
tia, the sister
ship of the Miranda, that The Arctic
Club was formed. The members of
Dr. Cook's Arctic Expedition of 1894, homeAvard bound
on that vessel, met in the smoking-room on the eAening of
September 8 and organized a club whose active members
should consist of all the persons upon the passenger list
of the Miranda on her last cruise into Arctic Avaters. The
following officers were elected : Professor William II. Brewer,
president ; Mr. Henry Collins Walsh, secretary ; and Mr.
Rudolf Kersting, treasurer. Motions were passed to this
effect : That an annual dinner be given by the club at a date
falling between Christmas and NeAV Year's Day ; and that
any members unable to attend should forward letters to the
secretary to be read at the dinner.
The following gentlemen were elected honorary members
of the club : Captain George W. Dixon, of Gloucester, Mass.;
Captain William J. Farrell, of New York ; Governor Bistrup
and Assistant-Governor Baumann, of Sukkertoppen, and
Governor Miiller, of Holsteinborg, Greenland. The members

230 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.
of the expedition had already been bound together by the
strong ties of common experiences, hardships, and dangers.
It seemed well, therefore, to appoint a certain time when
these experiences could be retold over the walnuts and wine.
After iEneas and his weary Trojans had been toiling against
wind and wave he cheered their drooping spirits by remarking
to them, "Forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit." And in
truth there is nothing pleasanter in life in the way of social
entertainment than the recalling of common hardships and
dangers about a board where old comrades have assembled, and
where libations and the incense of cigars are offered to the
rescuing gods.
The first annual dinner of the Arctic Club took place at the
Hotel Martin, New York, on December 27, 1894, and was a
unique and enjoyable affair. Speeches descriptive of Arctic
life and adventure were made, and incidents and recollections
of the trip were recalled by Professor William H. Brewer,
Mr. James D. Dewell, Hon. George W. Gardner, Captain
William J. Farrell, Dr. R. M. Cramer, Chief Officer George
Manuel, Dr. R. 0. Stebbins, Professor L. J. W. Joyner,
Dr. Frederick A. Cook, Mr. A. P. Rogers, Mr. Rudolf Ker-
sting, Mr. Frederick P. Gay, Mr. William J. Littell, Mr. H.
D. Cleveland, Mr. George M. Coates, Jr., and Mr. Carlyle
Garrison. Letters of regret were read from various members of
the club who were unable to attend the dinner ; among these
was one from Captain George W. Dixon, who, unfortunately,
was detained by business in Gloucester. Mr. Henry Collins
Walsh gave a toast in his honor. In explanation of a certain
portion of this toast, it must be said that the passengers
of the Miranda had subscribed, before they parted at Sydney,
the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars for the purchase of
some fitting testimonial to Captain Dixon ; a large old-fash
ioned clock, richly ornamented, being finally decided upon by

THE ARCTIC CLUB. 231
the committee appointed for the purpose of purchasing the
testimonial. This clock, with an appropriate inscription
upon a silver plate, was accordingly forwarded to Captain
Dixon early in October, 1894.
THE TOAST.
I drink to one, he is not here,
Yet I would guard his glory ;
A knight without reproach or fear
Should live in song and story.
No knight is he of high degree,
Who fought for fame and beauty ;
But just a sailor of the sea
Who did his seaman's duty
He thought of others, not of self,
That night our good ships parted ;
Nor cared for salvage nor for pelf,
Because so human-hearted.
For unto him his fellow-men
Were the most precious burden ;
And aught else was of lesser ken,
Nor recked he of his guerdon.
And is he now upon the sea,
Or with his dear ones round him,
Like carriers, may our greetings be,
And rest not till they've found him.
One memory like the golden sands
Down Time's glass ever flowing,
Our tall clock stands, and points its hands
To his coming and his going.

232

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA.

And when he comes to meat and bread,
I know 'tis but a fiction,
And yet, methinks the clock hands spread
To give our benediction.
Till hearts are dead, till eyes are dim,
We shall forget him never ;
And may our blessings bide with him
Forever and forever.
So I drink to one, he is not here,
Yet I would guard his glory ;
A knight without reproach or fear
Should live in song and story.
A heart as gentle as a lass,
Yet bold as any eagle ;
O comrades, rise ! I fill this glass
To Dixon of the Rigel I