The Great White North: The story of polar exploration from the earliest times to the discovery of the poleWright, Helen S. (Helen Saunders)
History
The Great White North: The story of polar exploration from the earliest times to the discovery of the pole
Wright, Helen S. (Helen Saunders)
Arctic regions; North Pole
“Unaccustomed to this kind of violent exercise, I was soon knocked up,
and tried, though unsuccessfully, to make my escape; but at last I had
the gratification of observing an elderly lady opposite beginning to
falter, and out of compliment to her I presume this dance was terminated.
“The Eskimos seem to think it is impossible to be too warm, so the doors
and windows were tightly closed, and certain lamps and tallow candles
(with which I had supplied his Excellency) soon brought the temperature
up to blood heat.
“After resting from my labour, I determined to try their waltz, which
I found was not very unlike ours, being performed somewhat in the
same manner, and the fair ladies with whom I now alternately figured
instructing me in the mysteries of the measure. Some of my sailors having
obtained permission to attend the ball, they were now solicited to give
a specimen of their skill, and accordingly a sailor’s hornpipe and reel,
with the usual heel and toe accompaniment, met with great applause. I had
had sufficient fun by nine o’clock, but the party did not break up till
after twelve; before I went away, however, at my special request, some
Eskimo melodies were sung by the party, and afterwards a Danish national
hymn by the governor. When the officers and men were returning in their
boat to the ship they were serenaded by the ladies of the party, who
joining hand-in-hand walked along the rocks towards the ship, singing a
plaintive air, which might well have been taken for their evening hymn.
And such it may have been, for these poor people, semi-civilized and
instructed as they have been by the Danes, are full of fervour and zeal
for their religion, the Lutheran, and show more real moral principle than
any nation I ever visited.”
By the 7th of October the _Isabel_ was ready for sea, but encountered
terrific gales. Upon the advice of the ice-masters, Captain Inglefield
determined to return to England in spite of a strong desire to winter and
complete the search of the west coast of Baffin Bay by sledge journeys
in the spring and the survey of Davis Strait from Cape Walsingham south,
as far as Newfoundland. However, a continuance of bad weather made such
a course impracticable, and by November 4 the _Isabel_ anchored at
Stromness; by the 10th of November she made Peterhead by way of Pentland
Firth.
[Illustration: ADMIRAL SIR EDWARD INGLEFIELD, R. N.
_By permission of The Illustrated London News._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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