The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 3, June, 1851Various
History
The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 3, June, 1851
Various
Art, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- History -- Periodicals
first requisite to light a fire around it, and the carpenter could
only labor with his wood over a fire, or else it was like stone under
his tools. Before the boat was made they buried the carpenter. The
captain exhorted them to put their trust in God; "His will be done. If
it be our fortune to end our days here, we are as near Heaven as in
England. They all protested to work to the utmost of their strength,
and that they would refuse nothing that I should order them to do to
the utmost hazard of their lives. I thanked them all." Truly the North
Pole has its triumphs. If we took no account of the fields of trade
opened by our Arctic explorers, if we thought nothing of the wants of
science in comparison with the lives lost in supplying them, is not
the loss of life a gain, which proves and tests the fortitude of noble
hearts, and teaches us respect for human nature? All the lives that
have been lost among these Polar regions, are less in number than the
dead upon a battle-field. The battle-field inflicted shame upon our
race--is it with shame that our hearts throb in following these Arctic
heroes? March 31st, says Captain James, "was very cold, with snow and
hail, which pinched our sick men more than any time this year. This
evening, being May eve, we returned late from our work to our house,
and made a good fire, and chose ladies, and ceremoniously wore their
names in our caps, endeavoring to revive ourselves by any means. On
the 15th, I manured a little patch of ground that was bare of snow,
and sowed it with pease, hoping to have some shortly to eat, for as
yet we could see no green thing to comfort us." Those pease saved the
party; as they came up the young shoots were boiled and eaten, so
their health began to mend, and they recovered from their scurvy.
Eventually, after other perils, they succeeded making their escape.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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