The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 56, December 2, 1897: A Weekly Magazine for Boys and GirlsVarious
History
The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 56, December 2, 1897: A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls
Various
History, Modern -- 19th century -- Juvenile literature -- Periodicals
Of all men Fridjiof Nansen is best able to form an opinion as to the
likelihood of Professor Andree ever returning to us, for he himself has
penetrated farther north than any other Arctic explorer, and has learned
so much about the Polar Sea that he is able to form a good opinion as to
the possibilities of Andree's success.
Nansen returned from his famous voyage before THE GREAT ROUND WORLD came
into existence, and so you might perhaps like to have us tell you about
him.
He is a young Norwegian, only thirty-six years old; very young to have
made such a great record.
At the age of nineteen he entered the University of Christiania and
devoted himself to the study of zooelogy, or the science of animals and
animal life, from man to the lowest form of life.
When he was twenty he made a voyage into the Northern seas for the
purpose of studying animal life in high latitudes.
When he returned he was made Curator of the Natural History Museum in
Bergen, Norway. A curator is a person in whose charge the valuable
collections in a museum are placed. He is the caretaker or custodian of
all the priceless treasures the museum contains.
Six years later Nansen made a trip across Greenland on snow-shoes.
There had long been a theory that in the interior of Greenland there
were fertile spots capable of cultivation.
Nansen proved that Greenland is covered with a huge ice-sheet, and is,
in fact, one vast glacier which rises slightly toward the interior, the
surface of the ice-cap being only occasionally interrupted by mountains
which protrude from the ice.
Nansen believed that an Arctic explorer should be able to live the same
life as the natives of the land he was exploring, and during his winter
in Greenland he lived much with the Eskimos, sleeping in their rude huts
of stone and dirt, and joining in their hunts on land and sea.
He learned many useful lessons of these people. One was how to make and
manage a kayak, or Eskimo boat, which he declares to be the handiest,
lightest, and absolutely best small boat constructed.
It was the knowledge that he gained during this Greenland winter that
enabled him to get one hundred and ninety-five miles nearer the North
Pole than any one else had ever done.
He also learned from his Arctic friends how to handle dog-teams.
The Eskimos use dogs for travelling as the Laplanders use reindeer. The
dogs are, however, much more difficult to handle, for while they are
hardy, strong, intelligent, and willing, they do not make good servants.
All their training cannot entirely tame them, and they have certain ways
and habits which lessen their usefulness.
They are, for instance, terrible fighters.
Every one who possesses a canine friend knows that this is a very
dog-like attribute, and one of which no dog, large or small, can be
entirely broken.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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