CHAPTER IV.

THE FIRST SLEDGE JOURNEY

1. From the preceding remarks on the equipment of a sledge, the reader will, perhaps, have gained a pretty clear notion of the procedure by which we are enabled to travel for weeks in Arctic wastes. This description will have shown him the various and manifold contingencies against which a leader has to provide, if he is to conduct an expedition safely and successfully, especially if he commands a body of men, who are neither so careful nor so observant as those who accompanied me in the sledge journeys I am about to describe.

2. I now pass to the first of these, the object of which was to determine the position and general relations of the new Land, which still remained a mystery to us, to reconnoitre a route for its exploration towards the north, and to ascertain what we could of the character of the intervening regions. I regarded the ascent of the high mountain—Cape Tegetthoff—which we had seen before us for months, as the preliminary step towards the attainment of these ends. Its great distance from the ship had rendered abortive all the attempts to reach it which had been made at the end of last autumn. With the beginning of March (1874) the sledging was now to commence in reality. Though the sun had returned on the 24th of February, it was seldom visible in the remaining days of that month; a heavy water-sky overspread the southern heavens, and the only cheerful precursors of spring were the birds which once more appeared in our neighbourhood. The snow had been distressingly soft, but the north-east winds which prevailed during the first days of March hardened it. When these winds fell, the temperature also fell, and although the beginning of March is regarded as a time little favourable for sledge travelling on account of the excessive cold, our impatience for action overcame all doubts and fears, and on the 9th one of our larger sledges stood ready, laden and packed for an expedition, equipped for a week. It carried an extra quantity of provisions, which were intended to form depôts. From the general store we took 39 lbs. of hard bread, 5 lbs. of pemmican, 16 lbs. of boiled beef, 6½ lbs. of lard, 1 lb. of pea-sausage, ½ lb. of salt and pepper, 6 lbs. of rice, 2 lbs. of grits, 5 lbs. of chocolate, 5 gallons of rum, 1 lb. of extract of meat, 2 lbs. of condensed milk, and 8 gallons of alcohol. The rest of the baggage consisted of such articles as we have described above. We had besides 3 breech-loaders and 100 cartridges, of which 40 were fired away.

3. I selected for my party six men and three dogs, Gillis, Torossy and Sumbu. As I reserved the picked men of our crew for the contemplated longer journey towards the north, some of the above were not altogether adequate to the work. My two Tyrolese, however, Haller and Klotz, possessed great endurance, Lukinovich and Cattarinch in a lesser degree; as for Pospischill and Lettis, they would have done credit to Falstaff’s corps. As Pospischill suffered from lung disease, Lukinovich from palpitation of the heart, Haller from chronic rheumatism, and Lettis from a tendency to bronchial catarrh, it may be inferred how necessity alone enabled them to do what they did, when the temperature fell lower than we expected.

4. On the morning of the 10th of March we left the ship, and the “Flag of the sledge journeys,” which had hung for so long a time over my berth, now fluttered in the fresh breeze which blew from the north-west. So much had this “at last,” excited me, that I could not sleep a wink, and those who were starting on the expedition as well as those who remained behind were as much agitated, as if the conquest of Peru or Ophir were contemplated, and not the exploration of lands buried under snow and ice. With indescribable joy we began the mechanical drudgery of dragging the sledge, each of us at first wearing a mask, like the members of the “Vehmgericht,” until we became habituated to the withering effects of the wind. As we moved along the level surface of the land ice of the preceding autumn, after forcing our way through the hummocky ice, which had formed itself on the north of the ship, we saw behind us some black spots approaching at full speed. These were the dogs we had left behind, which insisted on travelling with us, and much craft and force, supplemented by the logic of a few shots, were needed to force them to return to the ship. My companions interpreted the conduct of the dogs refusing to remain with the ship as a sign foreboding the death of our engineer. As the lading of our sledge amounted to about 6 or 7 cwts. and the snow was favourable for sledging, we were able to advance at the unusual rate of 100 paces in a minute, and in two hours we passed the south-west Cape of Wilczek Island. Close to this Cape we saw an iceberg which had fallen on the ice and crushed it all round, and sheltering ourselves from the wind under the lee of another, we took our mid-day rest, with the thermometer at -15° F. As the sun at noon was so little above the horizon that we got uncertain results for the determination of the latitude, I preferred during this journey to begin the surveying and, at the same time, the determination of the localities of Franz-Josef Land, by a triangulation of elevated points, to which the measurement of a base was afterwards to be added. Hence the ascent of high mountains formed part of our programme.

5. We continued our march till the ship disappeared from our eyes, and the route now lost its level character and assumed the appearance of a very chaos of ice. In the evening we reached a high rocky promontory of Wilczek Island, near which rose some stranded icebergs, and against which the ice-sheet of the sea, impelled by the waves, was dashed and broken. Close in shore the ice was in violent motion, and as we passed over the “ice-foot,” to the amazement of all, three of our men fell into a fissure. All through the night we heard in our tent, which we erected on the land, the cracking and crashing sounds emitted by the ice. Next day—March 11th—making a very early start, the thermometer at -14° F., we saw a water-sky to the south, and, after ascending a height, close before us lay the sea, covered with young ice. Heavy mists were ascending from fissures, and the level surface of the young ice glowed with the colours of the morning. Immediately under the coast of the island lay a narrow band of piled-up ice, with traces of recent pressures, and thinking that the interior was impassable to a laden sledge, we began our toilsome march along its rocky coasts.

6. We were in no mood to observe the picturesque character of our route, for our labours in dragging the sledge over the hummocky ice were excessive. We had frequently to unload the sledge or dig away an obstacle which could not be evaded. The conduct of the dogs was not quite faultless; and as for my companions, if one of them turned round, or if a bird flew past, this was enough to make the rest pause in their pulling, with the ready excuse of surprise at the circumstance. If in such cases Klotz failed to exert his strength, the sledge at once came to a standstill. We pressed on through icebergs on each side of us, shattered by the frost, and amid a constant noise of cracking and splitting produced by the increasing cold. At length, after several hours, we came out on an open level and crossed the gentle slope of a snow-covered spit of land. The rugged mountainous front of Hall Island, and the long glacier walls of M’Clintock Island, now rose before us. Our course lay clearly marked out: it ran in a north-westerly direction over a snow-covered level of old ice towards Cape Tegetthoff. Soon, however, the mist began to rise, and floated over the wide expanse of ice, and so obscured every object that we were able to continue our journey in the twilight only by means of the compass. We determined our course by the aid of small hummocks of ice, which rose above the general level surface, but so great was the difficulty of keeping a definite line in the mist, that we were compelled to halt every four hundred paces, and correct our route by the larger compass, which often showed that we had deviated 20° to 40° in azimuth from the true line, and in some cases the error amounted to even 90°. To add to all this, snow began to fall, so that we were almost blinded, and hence it was that a bear for some time followed our footsteps, unseen by any of the party. When we first sighted him, though he was at a little distance off, he looked enormously large in the mist. We quickly seized our rifles, and one of our men firing precipitately, the bear disappeared, leaving no track of blood to show whether it had been wounded. But bears, even when severely wounded, often leave no such trace; hence doubtless the origin of the assertion, that a wounded bear can dress its own wound, using its paw to apply snow to the injured part.

7. It was our practice in this, as well as in the following expeditions, to rest at noon for an hour or two, and putting up the tent take a meal of hot boiled beef. But the inferiority of an untrained to a well-trained sledge party was seen even in such operations. Much time was wasted; in like manner and from the same cause, the coffee-making in the morning, the preparation for the march, the taking down of the tent, the loading of the sledge, occupied my party for hours, and the smallest snow-drifting sufficed to blow away all their moral force. As we left the tent, the bear stood again before us, but disappeared as suddenly when we seized our rifles. In the course of a few hours we passed some icebergs shaped like huge tables, and when the wind rose and lifted up the mist for a few moments, we saw the rocky heights of Cape Tegetthoff towering above us at no great distance. The snow began to drive directly in our faces, and meanwhile the bear had followed our steps, often hidden from our sight by the vehement gusts of snow, sometimes on our flank, sometimes in our rear, keeping at about 200 paces distance from us. By feigning unconcern we hoped to stimulate his courage to attack us, reckoning on converting him into food. Suddenly, however, he ran towards us, and our apparent indifference disappeared. In a moment we stood ready to receive him; the sledge was drawn across the line of his advance, and each casting off his drag-rope, knelt and aimed over the sledge. The directions were to aim at the lower part of the skull, and to fire only when he was quite close to us. The dogs were moved to the further side of the sledge, and covered with its sail. Of the other four men, two held the dogs, a third laid hold of a revolver, and the fourth provided himself with some cartridges ready for contingencies. After the completion of these preparations, no one either moved or spoke. The bear meanwhile, moved steadily towards us, stopping for a moment at the spot where a piece of bread had intentionally been placed. Just as he stopped to examine it, three shots in rapid succession went off, and the bear, hit in the head and chest, lay dead on the ground. The dogs, being let loose, rushed on their fallen foe and began to tear his shaggy skin. While we were cutting the bear up, they sat down and watched us, occasionally dipping their tongues in the warm red blood and snapping up the morsels which were thrown to them. The bear we had shot was a female, six feet in length; and after cutting off the tongue and the best portions for meat, we continued our march in the teeth of the driving snow. One of our people had cut his finger badly in dressing the bear, and as the application of chloride of iron did not suffice to stop the violent bleeding, we were compelled to halt and erect our tent about six o’clock in the evening.

8. When we set out again on the morning of the 12th (the thermometer marking -26° F.) all round us was a red undulating waste, and the driving gusts of snow, which hid from our view the nearest rocky heights, pricked us as if with countless sharp-pointed darts. Such drifting snow, although it greatly impedes travelling, cannot be compared with the tremendous snow-storms I had experienced in Greenland. The same precursory signs were, however, common to both—extraordinary refractions, brilliant auroras, perfect calms, and a dull close atmosphere. In taking down the tent, which was covered with wreaths of snow, every article which fell in it was at once buried under its drifting waves. Of all the tests of endurance in Arctic journeys none exceeds that of continuing the march amid driving snow at a low temperature. Some of my company who had not been accustomed to walk in such tremendous weather, in attempting to button on their wind-screens and nose-bands and fasten up their coats after we had left the tent, at once had their fingers frozen. Our sail-cloth boots were as hard as stone, and every one took to stamping to preserve his feet from frost-bite. Under such circumstances the sledge is not packed with that precision which is the only preservative against the loss of the various articles of its contents. To watch against this contingency is the special business of the man who pushes the sledge from behind. Hurry and confusion were visible in the bag of provisions being left open. At last everything was ready: the march began, men and dogs, dragging the sledge along, all coated with snow and entirely covered except the eyes. In a momentary lull of the wind, we discovered that our march the day before had led us far too much to the south, and Cape Tegetthoff now lay before us directly north. Thither we now directed our steps, and as the wind still came from the north-west, we struck our sledge sail. As a consequence of this marching against the wind, which is most severely felt by the leaders of the team, all, even Klotz, had their noses frost-bitten. We had much difficulty in persuading him to rub his with snow, urging that his nose did not belong to himself alone, but that seven noses and fourteen feet were under the general supervision of the leader, and that each had a share in this general property.

9. As we came under the land, the violence of the snow-drifting somewhat abated, and in about two hours a calm set in. Close before us lay the plateau of Cape Tegetthoff, with its steep precipitous sides. From its summit a line of basalt rocks descended towards the east, ending in two columns, each about two hundred feet high. We reached them just before noon, and the weather being propitious we determined the latitude by observation and found it to be 80° 6′ N.L. The force of the tide not being able to raise or burst the bay-ice, the thaw-water of the spring collects itself on the coast-edge in small lakes. Close under one of these towers of dark-coloured basalt, we set up our tent; and while our cook was preparing our dinner of bear’s flesh we lay in the sun under the rocks in order to dry our clothes, which were coated all over with ice.

10. About one o’clock I set off with the Tyrolese to the plateau of Cape Tegetthoff. Those who remained behind spent their time in rubbing their feet with snow. Lettis had reserved for us the unpleasant surprise that his feet had been frost-bitten for three hours, and that he had lost all feeling in them. We marched for an hour on the snow, which lay in tender azure-blue shadow under the long line of basalt rocks, and after climbing for another hour over rosy-coloured masses of snow lying between crystallized rocks, we reached the highest point of the undulating plateau. No ascent could be more interesting, made, as it was, in a country so utterly unknown. Haller and Klotz were born mountaineers, and during my surveys in Tyrol I had made a hundred ascents of mountains of 10,000 feet, without the tension of expectation I now experienced, as I mounted this summit. The ascent was not without difficulty, and it taxed the extraordinary dexterity of the two Tyrolese to climb up steep icy precipices in their sail-cloth boots. It was about three o’clock in the afternoon when we reached the summit; the temperature had fallen to -30° F. (in the tent the thermometer at the same time marked -24° F. and in the ship -20° F.). By a barometrical measurement we found the height to be 2,600 feet. Contrary to expectation the view from the top proved to be limited. In a northerly direction, the atmosphere, laden with innumerable ice crystals, possessed so little transparency that Cape Berghaus, at no distance off, appeared to be covered with a thick veil, and all distant objects were enveloped in a dense mist. Fogs lay over the interior to the west, and banks of reddish vapour covered the icy ocean to the south. Some narrow strips of open water sparkled in the sun. After making a sketch of all that could be distinctly seen, and determining the bearings of some points, we returned to the tent. Here we found Lettis and Cattarinch engaged in rubbing with snow the hands of Lukinovich, which had been frost-bitten, while he was occupied in rubbing the feet of Lettis.

11. Nothing except the wind makes men so sensitive to cold as the want of exercise. The fall of the temperature had been felt far more by those who remained behind, than by ourselves. Even the wonderful beauty of the snow-clad summit bathed in rosy light failed to modify their severe judgment of Franz-Josef Land. Instead of greeting us with supper ready at the appointed hour, which he ought to have prepared without the use of spirit, the bewildered cook was vainly endeavouring to roast bear’s flesh over smoky chips and sticks, and we got our supper only after I had served out a bottle of alcohol. We then went to rest in the common sleeping bag, but soon began to shake with cold, which threw Pospischill, who took oil twice a day for lung-disease, into a fever. When I left the tent to look at the thermometers, the mercury in one had gone down into the bulb and was frozen, and the spirits of wine in the other showed 41° below zero (C.). Some hot grog, for which a whole bottle of strong rum was used, put us all right, raising the temperature of our bodies by one or two degrees. After this refreshment we all fell into a deep sleep, which was incommoded only by the increasing dampness of our clothes.

12. We started again about six o’clock on the morning of March 13. The sun had not risen, the spirit of wine thermometer indicated nearly 44° (C.) below zero, and a piercingly cold breeze met us from the land. Even on board the ship the temperature at the same time marked 37° (C.) below zero, a difference to be ascribed to the influence of the land in lowering the temperature. In Greenland we observed still greater deviations of this nature, which seem to show that climatical influences are subject to great variations, even in places which are in close proximity. Cape Berghaus was our goal. From its summit a general view of the distribution of the land under 80° N. lat. was reasonably to be expected. Long before the rise of the sun, the hard snowy plains were tinted with a pale green reflected light, and the icebergs wore a dull silvery hue, while their outlines constantly changed and undulated. Our road was formed from millions of glittering snow crystals, so hard that the sledge glided over them with difficulty and with a creaking noise, and after three hours, the exertion of dragging had so exhausted us that we determined to unload the sledge, and, after melting some snow, to wet its runners with water. A layer of ice was immediately formed on them, which greatly facilitated the labour of dragging, till it was rubbed off. A broad inlet surrounded by picturesque mountains—Nordenskjöld Fiord—had opened out on our left, and as a large glacier formed the background of this fiord, we took a westerly direction in order to study the ice-formation. The heights surrounding this fiord seemed equally as well fitted as Cape Berghaus for the object we had in view. The further we penetrated into it, the deeper became the layer of fine powdery snow which the wind had deposited in this hollow. At noon we reached the high precipitous termination of Sonklar-Glacier, and pitched our tent by an iceberg.

13. In the afternoon, accompanied by the Tyrolese, I ascended a mountain—Cape Littrow—whose height, by means of an aneroid barometer, we ascertained to be 2,500 feet. From its summit we had a view of the mountains of Hall Island, and of the islands which lay to the east. Not a breath of wind was stirring, and the atmosphere was clearer than usual, so that, without suffering in the least degree from cold, I could work for three hours, first in sketching our surroundings and then in taking observations. From south-west to north-east the peaks of distant mountains rose above the summits of those in the foreground. This view, while it assured us that the land we had named after our monarch must be of great extent, stimulated our impatience to know its extent, and the nature and relation of its constituent parts. The Wüllersdorf Mountains were the extreme limits of what could be known for the present, and their three peaks glowed in the setting sun above the dark edges of the terraces of the Sonklar-Glacier, whose broad terminal front over-hung the frozen bay of Nordenskjöld Fiord. It was eight o’clock in the evening when we returned to our tent, not, however, before we had made suitable preparations for the observation of the movement of the glacier. Sumbu and Torossy were our companions; but we had to tie them with a rope both in going up and coming down, and we ourselves only mastered the great steepness of the cone of the mountain by steps which Klotz, who went on before, hewed with incomparable dexterity and precision in the ice. During the night the temperature fell to 46° below zero (C.) (-47° F. in the ship), and I do not believe that we could have passed through it without the help of grog. We drank it as we lay close together muffled up in our sleeping bag. It was boiling hot, and so strong, that under other circumstances it must have made us incapable of work, yet in spite of the grog, we suffered much all through the night from cold and our frozen clothes.