A Thousand Days in the Arctic (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1899 edition. Excerpt: ...and a gun-case with the government rifle inside--which, fortunately, did not proceed to distribute bullets around--burning large holes in each. The fire spread so quickly that it burned the horizontal bar of the sledge. It was but a momentary excitement; but it came as a blessing, for it gave us food for conversation for hours afterwards and jokes at Blomkvist's expense. April 2d, Thursday.--Started in a dense mist with overcast sky, and soon after leaving camp it began to snow. We pushed on down the narrow fjord, finding great difficulty in seeing a way, as owing to the fog the land seemed to surround us, and no outlet was visible. I had much trouble in keeping the pony's snowshoes on, as the canvas has got very hard and stiff and chafes her feet just above the hoofs. I must improve upon them for next year. We stopped for lunch under the lee of a berg, having gone four miles. We always dislike stopping for lunch, as we get very cold in the process. Imagine sitting on a sledge, six inches from the ice, in thickly falling and driving snow, with a high and bitter wind blowing, trying to cook one's food. Every now and then we would get up and stamp about to restore the circulation to freezing feet, or to swing one's arms across our chests to induce warmth to our bodies and frost-bitten fingers. We did not linger longer than was necessary over it, and were always glad to move on again and return to our tugging and hauling at the sledges, tired though we might be. It was still snowing heavily, with a fresh southerly breeze, and was very misty and overcast. The land appeared to shut us in ahead, but the light was such that we could see nothing a quarter of a mile away to be sure of it. We pushed on, and presently an exit opened out in front of...