True Tales of Arctic Heroism in the New WorldGreely, A. W. (Adolphus Washington)
History
True Tales of Arctic Heroism in the New World
Greely, A. W. (Adolphus Washington)
Arctic regions
Here came unexpected food, which did much to make the completion of the
survey possible. As they were crossing the smooth fiord ice, Broenlund's
keen and practised eye saw far shoreward tiny specks of moving animals,
and he shouted loudly "_Nanetok!_" (A bear!). They proved to be two
mother bears with cubs. In a trice the teams were stopped, the
trace-toggles slipped from the few dogs that were used to bear-hunting,
who started excitedly on the jump for the already fleeing game. Soon
catching up with the lumbering animals, slow-moving on account of the
cubs, the dogs, followed their usual tactics of nipping sharply the hind
legs of the bear, who stops to drive off the dog or stumbles forward
with the dog fast at his legs. Meantime Broenlund and Tobias, the two
Eskimo dog drivers, quickly threw off the sledge loads on the floe and
drove on with such speed that the hunters were soon within shot. The
bears skinned and the dogs fed, the northward march was renewed in high
spirits, for the slow travel had sadly reduced their food.
They were nearly in despair on reaching the south shore of Mount
Mallemuk, as the open sea made it impossible to pass around it. With
exhausting labor they finally were able to clamber up a projecting point
of the seaward-flowing glacier, but their first supporting sledge here
turned homeward.
Difficult as had been the ice and the glacier-scaling, they came to a
real danger when around Mallemuk they were driven far out on the ocean
in order to proceed northward, for the inland ice was impossible of
passage and great areas of open water gave way slowly seaward to new
ice. This was so thin that it bent and crackled as sledge after sledge
tried in separate and fearsome order a passage that threatened to engulf
them at any moment. Yet they came safely to Amdrup Land, 80 deg. 43' N.,
whence the last supporting party returned, charged to explore on their
homeward journey the unknown fiords to the north of Lambert Land, where
their spring discoveries of new lands had begun.
Pressing on after the return of the supporting sledges, Mylius-Erichsen
was surprised and disappointed to find that the coast continued to trend
to the northeast, and not to the northwest, as indicated by all charts
since Peary crossed the inland ice to Navy Cliff. This northeasterly
trend greatly increased the length of the journey needful to complete
the survey of the entire east coast. Their equipment had been planned
for the shorter distance, and it was evident that this forced detour
would soon leave them without food for themselves or for their dogs
unless more game should be found.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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