Hall’s Expedition.—His early Life.—His reading of Arctic Adventure.—His Resolve.—His Arctic Outfit.—Sets Sail on the “George Henry.”—The Voyage.—Kudlago.—Holsteinborg, Greenland.—Population of Greenland.—Sails for Davis’s Strait.—Character of the Innuits.—Wreck of the “Rescue.”—Ebierbing and Tookoolito.—Their Visit to England.—Hall’s first Exploration.—European and Innuit Life in the Arctic Regions.—Building an Igloo.—Almost Starved.—Fight for Food with Dogs.—Ebierbing arrives with a Seal.—How he caught it.—A Seal-feast.—The Innuits and Seals.—The Polar Bear.—How he teaches the Innuits to catch Seals.—At a Seal-hole.—Dogs as Seal-hunters.—Dogs and Bears.—Dogs and Reindeers.—Innuits and Walruses.—More about Igloos.—Innuit Implements.—Uses of the Reindeer.—Innuit Improvidence.—A Deer-feast.—A frozen Delicacy.—Whale-skin as Food.—Whale-gum.—How to eat Whale Ligament.—Raw Meat.—The Dress of the Innuits.—A pretty Style.—Religious Ideas of the Innuits.—Their kindly Character.—Treatment of the Aged and Infirm.—A Woman abandoned to die.—Hall’s Attempt to rescue her.—The Innuit Nomads, without any form of Government.—Their Numbers diminishing.—A Sailor wanders away.—Hall’s Search for him.—Finds him frozen to death.—The Ship free from Ice.—Preparations to return.—Reset in the Ice-pack.—Another Arctic Winter.—Breaking up of the Ice.—Departure for Home.—Tookoolito and her Child “Butterfly.”—Death of “Butterfly.”—Arrival at Home.—Results of Hall’s Expedition.—Innuit Traditions.—Discovery of Frobisher Relics.—Hall undertakes a second Expedition.—His Statement of its Object and Prospects.—Last Tidings of Hall.
Among the most remarkable expeditions ever undertaken in the Polar world is that of Charles Francis Hall, performed during the years 1860, 1861, and 1862. Its primary object was to discover the survivors of Sir John Franklin’s party; for at this time there was good reason to believe that out of the 105 who were known to be living on the 25th of April, 1848, some were still surviving. Towards the main purpose of the undertaking nothing was indeed accomplished. Hall came upon no traces of Franklin and his men; but he acquired a more accurate knowledge of the Esquimaux—or rather as they call themselves, and as we shall call them, the Innuits—a word meaning simply “men” or “people”—and their mode of life than was ever before, or is likely to be hereafter, gained434 by any other white man capable of telling what he saw, and a part of which he was. The remarkable book in which Mr. Hall describes his expedition25 seems not to have come under the notice of Dr. Hartweg. It is proposed in this chapter to supplement the account of the Innuits from this work of Mr. Hall.
131. HALL AND COMPANIONS, IN INNUIT COSTUME.
435 Up to middle life Hall had resided in the inland city of Cincinnati. He had eagerly read every thing that he could find on record of the searches made for Franklin. Large ships and small ships had been sent out. Brave hearts and stout hands had been enlisted in the search, but with no tangible result beyond ascertaining the spot where the surviving 105 were when they abandoned their ships and took to the shore, hoping to make their way to their homes. Only two of these men were proven to have died; and it was more than probable that of the 105 known to have been living in 1848, some would yet be alive in 1860, for not a few of these men, if living, would be still of middle age.
Hall had read the story of the sufferings of Kane’s party during the long months of the Arctic winter, but he had come to the conclusion that most of these resulted from the mode of life adopted by them. The Innuits, he knew, lived to a good old age through a succession of such winters, and he believed that a civilized man could live where a savage could. This conviction was confirmed by one of Kane’s companions, who told him, “When we lived like the Esquimaux, we immediately recovered, and enjoyed our usual health. If Providence had so ordered it that we should cast our lot with the Esquimaux, I have no doubt that we would have lived quite as long, and in quite as good health as in the United States or England. White men can live where Esquimaux can, and frequently when and where they can not.”
So Hall grew into the conviction that some of these lost ones could yet be found; and he writes, “It seemed to me as if I had been called, if I may so speak, to try and do the work. My heart felt sore at the thought of so great a mystery in connection with any of our fellow-creatures, especially akin to ourselves, yet remaining unsolved.” How should he obey this call? His own means, beyond a stout frame and strong will, were of the smallest. He broached the project at the West, where it was received with favor. Then he came East, and was met with like consideration. Funds were raised, and the expedition which Hall contemplated was fitted out.
This expedition consisted simply of Hall himself. The cash contributed for the outfit was just $980, of which more than a third was contributed by Henry Grinnell, of New York. In addition to this was about a quarter as much in the way of presents. “These,” says Hall, “constituted all the means and material I had to carry out the great undertaking my mind had led me to embark in.” Hall’s list of the articles on his outfit for a three years’ residence and exploration is worthy of record. It shows in what way his $980 in cash was expended.
“My outfit,” he writes, “for the voyage and the whole of my expedition, consisted of:—a boat, length twenty-eight feet, beam seven feet, depth twenty-nine and one-half inches, drawing eight inches of water when loaded with stores and a crew of six persons; one sledge; one half-ton of pemmican; two hundred pounds of Borden’s meat biscuit; twenty pounds pork scrap; one pound preserved quince; one pound preserved peaches; two hundred and fifty pounds powder; a quantity of ball, shot, and percussion caps; one rifle, six double-barrelled guns; one Colt’s revolver; beads, needles, etc., for presents; two dozen pocket-knives; some tin ware; one axe, two picks, files, etc.; tobacco and pipes;436 wearing apparel for self, and red shirts for natives; stationery and journal-books; watch, opera-glass, spy-glass; sextant, pocket sextant, artificial horizon, azimuth compass, common compass, two pocket compasses; three ordinary and two self-registering thermometers. Some navigation-books and several Arctic works, with my Bible and a few other volumes, formed my library.” The boat and fixtures cost one hundred and twenty-five dollars; meat, biscuit, pemmican, etc., about two hundred and fifty dollars; astronomical instruments, about one hundred dollars; guns and accoutrements, about two hundred and twenty-five dollars; clothing, fifty dollars; pipes and tobacco, twenty dollars; travelling expenses and express payments, seventy-five dollars; dog-team, bought in Greenland, fifty dollars. The other items making up the nine hundred and eighty dollars are all duly given. It will be seen that the balance left for minor, but necessary, expenditures was very small.
New London, Connecticut, is the port from which vessels mainly sail for the Arctic whale-fishery. Here was the place of business. Williams and Haven largely engaged in that enterprise. They relieved Hall of a great load of anxiety by a brief note, in which they said: “As a testimony of our personal regard, and the interest we feel in the proposed expedition, we will convey it and its required outfit, boats, sledges, provisions, instruments, etc., free of charge, on the barque ‘George Henry,’ to Northumberland Inlet; and, whenever desired, we will give the same free passage home in any of our vessels.”
On the 29th of May, 1860, the “George Henry” set sail, with a crew, officers and men, of twenty-nine souls. Accompanying as tender was a schooner, which had a history. She was now known as the “Amaret;” but under the name of the “Rescue” she had won fame in Arctic research, for in her Kane had made his first Arctic voyage. Hall always calls her by her old name, and the account of her loss forms a striking episode in his narrative.
132. KUDLAGO.
We have said that Hall’s expedition consisted of himself alone. But when he started he had with him a companion, who he hoped would greatly aid him. This was Kudlago, an Innuit, who had acquired some knowledge of our language in Greenland from whalers, had come to the United States on a whaling-vessel, and was now anxious to return to Greenland. But he fell sick on the voyage, and died on the 1st of July. His last words were, “Do you see the ice?” for he knew that the appearance of ice at this season would show that he was near his home. He died three hundred miles at sea, and was committed to the ocean, Hall reading the funeral service. A great iceberg—the slender one represented on page 48 of this volume—was drifting close by, and Hall named it “Kudlago’s Monument.”
On the 7th of July they reached Holsteinborg, the capital of the Danish colony437 of Greenland, a town consisting of twenty-four houses. The entire population of Greenland is estimated at about 2450, of whom 2300 are Innuits, and the remainder Europeans. Of the Innuits, 1700 live by sealing, and 400 by fishing; the others being mainly mechanics and sailors, besides twenty native catechists. Of the Europeans, thirty-one are “First and Second Governors;” twenty-four missionaries and priests; thirty-six clerks; the others mechanics and sailors. The forty-four native and European missionaries receive, in all, 13,600 Danish paper dollars, equal to about $8500 in specie. The head-schoolmaster has one hundred and twenty-five paper dollars; three others receive one hundred dollars each; three, twenty-five dollars; two, six dollars. Of these last, one teaches his own two children, who are the only ones in his district. There are also four women, who get a dollar a year each for teaching children their letters. The sixteen Government employés get from forty to ninety dollars a year, besides provisions for themselves and their families. Bread is baked for them every fortnight. The currency of the colony is paper, the “six-skilling” note being worth about three cents.
133. GREENLAND CURRENCY.
The native Greenlanders are by no means deficient in intelligence. Mr. Hall gives a fac-simile of a wood-cut representing a woman and child drawn and engraved by one of them who had received no instruction in art, and no education of any sort beyond that of the majority of his countrymen. The great festival of Greenland is the birthday of the King of Denmark, in which all the population, native and European, who can be assembled, take part, his Majesty furnishing the cheer. Hall gives a view of this celebration, taken from a drawing made by a native. The original drawing was full of character.
The “Rescue” having rejoined her consort, the “George Henry,” from whom she had been separated on the voyage, the captain proposed to set sail for his proposed whaling-ground on the west side of Davis’s Strait. They sailed on the438 24th of July, Hall accompanying. Three days after, they encountered a violent snow-storm, and were beset by icebergs. On the 8th of August they anchored in a bay in latitude 63° 20´, called by the natives Ookoolear, but by Hall named Cornelius Grinnell Bay. Here and hereabouts the whalers went to work, and Hall began his acquaintance with the Esquimaux at home.
134. WOMAN AND CHILD. (Drawn and Engraved by AN INNUIT.)
439
135. FESTIVAL OF THE BIRTHDAY OF THE KING OF DENMARK.
Among these was Kookerjabin, the widow of Kudlago, and of three others. “The Innuits,” writes Hall, “are a happy people. As they crowded our decks, I one day noticed about a dozen women seated, and busily engaged at their work. Two were mending one of the boat’s sails, some were chewing seal-skins for440 boot-soles, others were sewing, while one was tending a cross baby. It is rare to find an Innuit child who is not very quiet, but this little fellow had eaten a piece of raw blubber, which had disordered him. Some of the amusing tricks played by these Esquimaux women are especially deserving of notice. The variety of games performed by a string tied at the ends, similar to a ‘cat’s cradle,’ completely throws into the shade our adepts at home. I never before witnessed such a number of intricate ways in which a simple string could be used. One arrangement represented a deer; another, a whale; a third, the walrus; a fourth, the seal; and so on without end.”
136. PREPARING BOOT-SOLES.
The short Arctic summer soon came to a close. On the morning of the 26th of September came light winds from the north-west; by noon it began to snow, the wind increasing to a gale. The whaling-boats all came in, and preparations were made for bad weather. During the night the storm grew hourly fiercer. The “Rescue” dragged her anchor, and was dashed upon the rocks an utter wreck. Hall’s little boat, upon which he had so much relied, was torn from its moorings and lost, “dooming me,” says Hall, “to a wreck of disappointment in the hopes I had cherished concerning her. The ‘George Henry’ was also in imminent peril, but outrode the tempest; but on her next voyage, eighteen months later, was lost at a point hardly a hundred miles distant.”
The “George Henry” was soon after laid up in winter-quarters, fairly blocked in by ice. Hall in the mean time had made himself acquainted with the Esquimaux441 of the region. Prominent among these were a couple—husband and wife—whose history is worthy of record.
137. WRECK OF THE RESCUE.
One day—it was November 2—while Hall was writing in his cabin, he heard a low, sweet voice saying, “Good-morning, Sir.” Looking up, he saw a comely woman, dressed in very good imitation of civilized costume. He had heard of442 her before. Her name was Tookoolito. She was the wife of Ebierbing, a rather famous seal-hunter and pilot. Seven years before a British whaler had taken them to England, where they were received as the lions of the day. They dined with Prince Albert, and were introduced to the Queen. Ebierbing thought that the Queen was “very pretty;” indeed she bore no very distant likeness to his own wife. Tookoolito thought Prince Albert was a “very kind, good man.” Both agreed that the Queen had “a very fine place.” Tookoolito, as many thousands in the United States afterwards had occasion to know, spoke English almost perfectly. Her husband was less fluent, but still quite intelligible. This pair became Hall’s constant companions in the Arctic regions; came with him upon his return to the States, remained there with him for two years, and went back with him upon his second expedition, which now (September, 1869) is not completed.
138. THE GEORGE HENRY LAID UP FOR THE WINTER.
Early in January Hall resolved to make an exploring expedition with the dog-team which he had bought at Holsteinborg. The party consisted of himself, Ebierbing, Tookoolito, and another Esquimaux, named Koodloo. The sledge was drawn by ten dogs—five of which belonged to Hall, and five to Ebierbing. They relied for food mainly upon the proceeds of their hunting, taking with them only a pound and a half of preserved mutton, three pounds of salt pork, fifteen pounds of sea-bread, three pounds of pork scraps for soup, and a little coffee, pepper, and molasses. The trip lasted nearly a month and a half, during which time Hall learned to live like the Esquimaux in their snow cabins, and subsisted mainly upon raw seal flesh. When he returned to the ship it was hard for him to accustom himself to the change from the pure atmosphere of a snow-house to the confined air of a small cabin.
443
139. STORM-BOUND.
Had Kane but known how to pass an Arctic winter, the world would never have had occasion to read one of the most pathetic accounts ever written of suffering. Buddington, the captain of the “George Henry,” had learned the lesson by dear experience. Five years before, when in command of another vessel, he had lost thirteen of his men by scurvy. “But,” said he, “I am not now afraid of losing any more men by scurvy while I have command over them. Whenever there are appearances of it on board, I will have every pork and beef barrel—salt provisions of every kind—headed up at once, and every man shall live upon bread and fresh provision, such as whale, walrus, seal, deer, bear, ptarmigan, duck, and the like. It is not a little remarkable that persons afflicted with scurvy seem madly inclined to salt provisions, which they know to be in their case absolute poisons. They will go any length to obtain salt pork, even when they have fresh food in abundance.”
Hall’s first night in an igloo may stand as a sample of many more. We cite, with much abridgment, from his journal:
“We encamped at 5 P.M., having found good material for building a snow-house. Ebierbing and Koodloo at once commenced sawing out snow-blocks, while I carried them to a suitable spot for erecting the igloo, which took us one hour to make. As soon as it was completed Tookoolito entered, and commenced placing the stone lamp in its proper position. It was trimmed, and soon a kettle of snow was over it, making water for coffee and soup. She then placed several pieces of board, which we had brought with us, on the snow platform where our beds were to be made. Upon these were placed canvas and deer-skins, and our sleeping accommodations were complete. The drying of any thing that has become wet during the day falls to the lot of the woman.444 She places them in a net hung over the lamp and attends to them through the night, meanwhile mending all articles of clothing that need repairs. Presently our evening meal was ready. It consisted of Cincinnati ‘crackling’ soup, a bit of raw salt pork, half a biscuit for each, and coffee.”
140. INNUIT STONE LAMP.
A snow-house, built in an hour, is abandoned when the use for it is over. The dogs are suffered to enter, and appropriate any thing that is left which suits their taste. Nothing comes amiss to them. On the third night Hall had his hair cut by Tookoolito, and the clippings were left on the floor. The dogs swallowed these, among other things. Stormy weather soon came on. There was no hunting or sealing, and the party had nothing to eat except some bits of raw, frozen whale’s-skin which they found in a cache, which a party from the ship had made a few weeks before. Not far off was an igloo belonging to an Innuit named Ugarng, whom they knew. Hall went to it hoping to find something to eat. Ugarng had just come in, having spent two whole days and a night in watching over a seal-hole without success. He had heard the seal blow, and that was all. He bore his disappointment coolly. “Away I go tomorrow again,” he said. He went next day, remained all night over the seal-hole, and came back with nothing. “This was very bad for the whole of us,” says Hall. How bad it was for the poor wife of Ugarng and her children may be inferred from her own words. They were without food or light; her infant was restless from hunger. She said simply, “Me got no milk, meat all gone, blubber too; nothing to eat, no heat; must wait till get seal.”
Hall was about as near starvation as were the Innuits. All he had to eat was a bit of the “black skin” of a whale, and this he relished; he could have eaten any thing which would have gone to keep up internal heat, and make bone and flesh. Ebierbing was away hunting. At length Tookoolito managed to extemporize a warm dinner. From the black skin she tried out enough oil to fill the lamp and heat some snow-water. This was thickened with a couple of ounces left of a quart of meal which formed a part of the stores with which they set out. The pair shared the “pudding,” and thought it excellent. The cold was severe. Within the dark igloo the thermometer stood at about zero; outside, 25° to 52° below zero. Under these circumstances Hall kept at his journal, sitting wrapped in furs to keep from freezing. So passed ten days. Ebierbing had gone back to the vessel in order to bring back some food. Day by day Hall went to the top of a hill, straining his eyes over the snowy waste in hope of seeing the approach of the messenger. On the evening of the 24th of January, fourteen days after their starting upon the expedition, they were reduced to their last ration of food, which was a piece of black skin two inches long, an inch and a half wide, and three-quarters of an inch thick.
At midnight footsteps were heard approaching; Hall sprang from his bed445 and opened the snow-block door. There was “Jack,” an Innuit, who had gone out on a hunt, with his spear strung with strips of seal-blubber. Hall’s favorite dog had been allowed to sleep in the igloo. The half-starved creature scented the blubber, gave a desperate leap, and grasped a portion of the food, and in spite of all the efforts of Hall and the others swallowed it. Before the door could be closed all the other dogs outside were aroused, and fighting for a share. Among them they got nearly the whole. Next morning Hall went out, and gazing in the direction from which the approach of Ebierbing was hoped for, saw something black moving over the snow. It was Ebierbing with dogs and a sledge, loaded with provisions from the ship, and also with a seal which he had caught that morning. A great seal-feast took place at once, which Hall thus describes:
141. FIGHTING FOR FOOD.
“According to Innuit custom, an immediate invitation was given by the successful hunter’s family for every one to attend a seal-feast. Our igloo was soon crowded. My station was on the dais, or bed-place, so that I could watch what was going on. The first thing done was to consecrate the blubber by sprinkling water over it. Then our host proceeded to separate the blubber and skin from the meat and skeleton of the seal. The body was then opened, and the blood scooped out. The blood is considered very precious. The liver came next, cut into pieces and eaten raw, I getting a share. Then followed distributing the ribs, for social picking, also eaten raw, I doing my duty, and becoming quite an Innuit in all except in the quantity eaten. This I might challenge any white man to do. No human stomach but an Innuit’s could possibly446 hold what I saw these men and women devour. When the feast was ended, the company dispersed. Tookoolito then sent around bountiful gifts of seal-blubber for fire-lamps, also some seal-meat and blood. This is the usual custom among the Innuits. They share each other’s success, and bear each other’s wants. Generally if it is found that one is short of provisions, it may be known that all are so.”
142. THROUGH THE SNOW.
The manner in which Ebierbing secured that precious seal is a striking example of Innuit patience. On his way to the ship the dogs discovered a seal-hole. He marked the spot by making a small pile of snow close by, and squirting a mouthful of tobacco-juice upon it by way of mark. On his return he found the hole, and determined to try to secure the animal. So wrapping his feet and legs in furs taken from the sledge, he took his position, spear in hand, over the seal-hole. It was buried two feet deep under the snow. He thrust his spear through the snow again and again until he found the little aperture leading through the ice; then in the dark night he seated himself close by, waiting to hear the blowing of the seal. Towards morning the welcome sound was heard. One well-aimed thrust of the spear secured the prize. Ebierbing was nearly frozen, his nose being frostbitten; but he suffered more from thirst than from cold. There was indeed snow all around, but in that intense cold the mouth does not retain sufficient caloric to melt a piece of snow placed in it. His first call when he reached the igloo was for water. To watch all night at a seal-hole would seem to be a sufficient trial of patience and endurance; but Hall notes another time when Ebierbing passed two whole days and nights without food by a hole, and then failed to secure the seal.
To the Innuit the seal is, in the broadest sense, the staff of life. It is to them all that flocks and herds, grain-fields, forests, coal mines, and petroleum wells are to dwellers in more favored lands. It furnishes to them food, fuel, and clothing. The seal is the most wary and suspicious of creatures; to capture him demands a patience and dexterity which throws into the shade all the exploits of deer-stalkers and lion-hunters. “Nutchook,” for so the Innuits name the seal, has good reason for wariness, for his chief enemy, “Ninoo,” the bear,447 against whom he has to keep constant watch, is a keen hunter. The Innuits acknowledge that “Ninoo” has taught them how to catch “Nutchook,” the common seal, and his big cousin “Oookgook,” the great seal. Hall, no contemptible sportsman, acknowledges that he was never able to get within rifle-shot448 of a seal when basking upon the ice; yet Ninoo catches them with his own paws; and the Innuits, taught by him, come within the distance of a spear’s cast.
143. WAITING BY A SEAL-HOLE.
The way Ninoo goes to work at seal-hunting upon the ice, according to Innuit accounts, is this: He sees far away upon the ice a black spot, which he knows to be a seal resting at the edge of his hole, and taking a succession of “cat naps,” hardly ten seconds long, lifting up his head between times, and narrowly surveying the whole horizon. Ninoo flings himself upon his side, and creeps along when the seal’s head is down. The moment the seal’s head is raised the bear stops short, and begins “talking” to the seal. The sound which he utters is quite distinct from his ordinary voice. The seal is charmed, suspects no harm, and down goes his head for another nap. Forward goes Ninoo, and so on for a long time, until he gets within leaping distance; then one spring, and it is all over with Nutchook. The Innuits say that if they could only talk to Nutchook as cleverly as Ninoo does, they would catch more seals. The Innuit imitates Ninoo.
144. LOOKING FOR SEALS.
Hall describes one of these hunts, the main actor being an Innuit named Koojesse: “Koojesse had ‘talk’ with seals, and it was with great interest that I watched him. He lay down on one side, and crawled by hitches or jerks towards his victim; then as the seal raised its head Koojesse would stop, and commenced pawing with his right hand and foot, while he uttered his ‘seal-talk.’ On this the seal would feel a charm, raise and shake its flippers both fore and aft, and roll over on its side and back as if perfectly delighted; after449 this it would drop its head to sleep. Then Koojesse would hitch along till the seal’s head would pop up again, which usually occurred every few moments.” In this particular case the seal escaped, for the Innuit had approached too near, and had thus broken the charm.
145. INNUIT STRATEGY TO CAPTURE A SEAL.
In the winter, when the seal lives under the ice, its capture requires great450 skill and perseverance. She, for somehow the male seal seems now not to be noticed, has a breathing-hole through the ice, to which she must come now and then for air. Upon the surface of the solid ice, which is covered with snow, the prospective mother constructs an igloo for her progeny. She scrapes off the snow until she has formed a dome, carrying away the snow down through the hole in the ice. Upon the shelf of ice surrounding the hole the young one is born, and there it is regularly visited by the mother. None but very keen-scented animals, such as the bear, fox, and dog, can discover such an igloo. The dog sometimes captures a seal. Hall describes such an event: “Ebierbing had one day been out with dogs and sledge where the ice was still firm, when suddenly a seal was noticed ahead. In an instant the dogs were off towards the prey, drawing the sledge after them at a marvellous rate. The seal for a moment acted as if frightened, and kept on the ice a second or two too long, for just as he plunged, Smile, the best seal and bear dog I ever saw, caught him by the tail and flippers. The seal struggled violently, and so did Smile; but in a moment more the other dogs laid hold, and aided in dragging the seal out of his hole, when Smile took it in charge. The prize was secured wholly by the dogs.”
146. SEAL-HOLE AND IGLOO.
147. WAITING FOR A BLOW.
Dogs seem to hunt the seal only upon their master’s account; but the fox and the bear capture him for themselves. How the fox contrives to get into a seal igloo we are not told; but as they manage to break open the best packed provision-cases, w............