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Christmas on the "Germania.”

Koldewey and Payer on the Germania. She succeeded in reaching, on the east coast of Greenland, the latitude of 75° 30′, but was then forced to turn back again and winter among the Pendulum Islands (lat. 74° 30′ N.). Intense cold was experienced; but musk-oxen were abundant, and the winter was passed agreeably in hunting and in sledge journeys. Christmas was spent right royally. "By starlight," says Koldewey, "we danced upon the ice. Of the evergreen Andromeda (Cassiope tetragona) we made a Christmas-tree. The cabin was decorated with flags, and the presents which loving hands had prepared were laid out upon the tables. Every one received his share, and universal mirth prevailed."

Somewhat later followed a hot supper, at which the cook astonished them with some delicious cakes. "Healths were drunk in foaming wine of the Neckar; and at dessert, a large chest, which had taken its place in the cabin since yesterday, was opened. It contained a valuable present from Mainz, a number of bottles of excellent Rhine wine. You should have seen the men of the Germania!' These happy, hearty Germans joked, talked, and sung the songs of the Fatherland. Each one had his song-book, a thoughtful present from the great German publisher, G. Westermann, and midnight passed before they retired to rest.

Encounter with a Bear.

243

On January 11th the vessel was found to be on fire. The deck beams and planks were burned, but it had been fortunately discovered in time, and all hands assisted in extinguishing it.

On March 6th Dr. Börgen was out on the ice, when, hearing a rustling noise, he turned and beheld a hungry polar bear. "There was no time," writes the doctor, "to think or use my gun. The grip

was so sudden and rapid that I am unable to say how it was done, whether the bear rose and struck me down with his fore-paws, or whether he ran me down. But from the injuries I have sustained (contusions and a deep cut on the left ear), I conclude that the former must have been the case. The next thing I felt was the tearing of my scalp, which was only protected by a skull-cap.

The

cry

for

help which I uttered frightened the animal for a moment; but he turned again and bit me several times on the head. The alarm had meanwhile been heard by the captain, who had not yet reached the cabin." The crew was roused and several shots were fired, but not till Börgen had been dragged three hundred paces did the infuriated animal relinquish his grasp and make off. He had inflicted some twenty wounds, but none of vital nature.

On Kuhn Island, Lieutenant Payer, while out on a sledging expedition, discovered a seam of coal alternating with sandstone. The layer was, in

places, eighteen inches thick. Fuel in that severe climate is so important that the discovery might be regarded as quite sufficient for the credit of the expedition, if its members had done nothing else. In some future ages are we to derive our warmth from the Arctic?

A sledge journey to the north, made during winter, resulted in the collection of very fine zoological and botanical specimens. A cape which jutted out near their most northern camp was named after Prince Bismarck. In the summer, when the water was once again open, a large inlet, hitherto unknown, was discovered in latitude 73° 15′ N. It was named after the Emperor Franz Josef. Surrounding it are mountain peaks from 7,000 to 14,000 feet altitude. One of the former height was named after Lieutenant Payer, who ascended it, and another in honour of Dr. Petermann. The expedition returned to Bremen on September 11th, 1870.

In the year 1870 Count Waldburg-Zeil, a young German officer enjoying a furlough in Norway, determined to do something more than follow the pleasures of the chase. A countryman of his, the Baron von Heuglin, joined him, and they together sailed for Spitzbergen in a Norwegian vessel which happened to be in the harbour of Tromso. Their explorations were of importance. They first ex

Waldburg-Zeil and Heuglin.

245

plored Stor Fiord, between Spitzbergen Edge and Barentz's Island. On the former island Heuglin ascended a high hill, and saw extensive land on the eastern horizon with many high snow peaks. They then, after other minor explorations, retraced their course to Tromso.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Hall's Life among the Esquimaux-The Polaris Expedition-Highest Latitude yet attained-Death of Hall-The Party divided-Nineteen Souls adrift on a Floe-Rescued at last-The Steamer abandoned -Smith Sound and the present Expedition.

C

JAPTAIN CHARLES FRANCIS HALL returned to America in 1869, after having lived five years with, and almost in the manner of, the Esquimaux of Greenland. He is very generally credited with the discovery of the site of Frobisher's settlement, and his ethnological and other studies are of undoubted value. Early in 1870, encouraged by the Secretary of the United States Navy, the Hon. George M. Robeson, Hall commenced mooting the plans for a new expedition, and succeeded eventually in obtaining a grant of fifty thousand dollars from Congress, while an old United States gun-boat was placed at his disposal. She was re-christened the Polaris. Hall was to have sole control of the expedition. No naval officer was to accompany him. He