DR NANSEN'S SEND-OFF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 281, 11 October 1889, Page 3

DR NANSEN'S SEND-OFF.

-— * . A. Lcxch at ran Scandinavian Clvu. The lunch was sorvpd Scandinavian fashion, with the preliminary skirmish somewhat as the liussians have it, at a sideboard, minus the caviare. The aniseed - flavoured brown biscuits, the anchovies, raw herring*, and fresh butter having been washed down by a thimbleful of corn brandy, avg sat down to salmon cutlets. '' Then you aro really going to the Pole, I)r. Nansen " " Yes, " said he modesty ; " that is decided on. When, I cannot «ay ; but I shall go. " "At least said one of the guests, " you will get nearer than any ouo else. " "I would not care to do that. If I did not expect to reach the i^ orth Pole I would not caie to start. There is only one way to reach it, and that I shall take. " " that way?" " Oh, never mind, wo will not speak of it until all is ready. But of one thing ther* is no doubt. If you mean to get to the Pole you must cut off your retreat. "When we started on 'our last journey, we used a Norse proverb, and said : • There is before us only Heaveu or Hell. , And so it will be when we start on the new journey. It will be • Hefcvei), Hell or the North P le, or the West Coast of Greeuland. " •• That is just what Captain Wiggins always gays : his way of putting it is that you will never reach the North Pole excepting you start as for a tor lorn hope. All expediti ns l>ave Jailed because they m ike good their retreat before they make their advance. When I start it will be the Nonh Pole or Death. " " Quite so. " said Dr Nansen. >( Burn your boats, break down your bridges. It is the only way." " How much will it cost in money ? " " From .£15,000 to £20,000. I tun goiDg home to build a small ship, with whi -h to make my way thither ; 1 at first thought of taking two, but I think thai one will b 2 better. " " Cheaper at any rate. " Oh, I have no difficulty about the money," said the explorer, smiling — happy man. "And when you get there, " said one, you

will find a Scotchman sitting ou tho top tnrniiijjiiNewotietle grindstone." " £ don't Uuow about that, " said he, . am ling, v but what I do expect is to find the lYe placarded with a logo udvertisoiuent of Pears' t-onp. Do you know, " he added, laughing, " 1

ca lied a rake « f Pears' soap right across Greoniand ? " IC What an ad- , vertisenient for Pears ! " " Alas !" j sa>d he, " but the truth compels me ' to add that I never used it, for I never washed once daring the two | months— a statement received with great applause at the Geogra] i'-nl Society. " " Eea'ly : was it not very ' inconvenient?" "Not at a'l Soip is a modern luxury, and Greenland is wot a dirty place. Two or three centuries ago who washed ? How much soap had the Vikings ? Nay, how often^does^p. Norwegians roasant^te&jr :ghsk|M| broke in with the Norse saying, " Cleanliness is a virtue, " as the woman said when she turned .her shift on New Year's eve, " M. dv Chaillu remarked that African natives knew ret?; wellhpw to make, so eoa-p hy boiling ashes? and then: mining them with palm oil and added iM Bill I miss the dark brown Windsor soap, which is almost unprocurable nowadays. " " Pears will make an advertisement out of Dr Nansen yet, " s-iid Mr Braeks'ad. " I see a v non of all our omnibuses placarded with two pictures side by side. Oao Dr Nansen, hideously dirty, after two months* without washing, a 1 d on the Other side a radiantly clean Dr Nunsen •with the inscription, 'The change •fleeted after one wash with Pears' soap. " '• But seriously, Dr Nansen, do the Esquimaux never wash ? " " On the East coast se'dom or never ; but do change their ciothes ; at lea t they do so before they I eoime civilized, in a curious fashion. " " How ? " By simply throwing them off altogether. Enter ait Esquimaux hat on the Enst coast, inhabited perhaps by four or five families, and you will find that not a single creature present is embar« rnsed with a si- gle garment of any kind It is awfully hoi; inside, •'And when they are . civilized ?"• II They Jfeep^tljeir u^»r-cljill*j.j It is notso healthy, altoiigh to our ideas less improper. You , can get used to everything. Civilization is by no means an unmixed boon to the Esquimaux." • How? By strong drink?" "Not at all. The conduct of the Danish Government is admiral in tlr.it respect. Not a single bottle of alcohol is allowc d to be landed. And a good thing too. Nothing is worse for these latitudes and low temperatures than spirit. We used none on our journey, No it is not strong drink, but coffee, and the art of reading and waiting, which are tbe curse of the Esquimaux. lhe love of coffee is a devouring passion with them. They will drink themselves dizzy with it. Cup after cup of the strongest and blaoyest they will swallow Tith disastrous results To get coffee they will part with, anything. Weapons, skins, there is nothing that they will not give away for the coveted drug," • But reading and writing, how can that harm them?" " How? Very simply. Every m J&euL su^tjKiet^fromJjhe., pursuit o&AieJbelPaif i th# stri geje • with nature is a subtraction from their capacity to earn their livo'ihopd on the bordeii aid of exigence \v!». re the battle fov Btibsis'euoo is desjjers ately fierce, T!ie man who waste-* years in learning to rend and wri c —arts which are no good to him iv his daily life— oses ground iv the, race, 'i he naked, nnwashen Esqljk ujhiix, who do not know their letters, are finer specimens of the lace than their civilized brothers on the other coast. Tht-y are simple children of nature, socialists without, knowing it. When a man catches a s.m' he eats as much of it as he likes, and as much as he can, that is his right as captor. After that the seal is the c mmon property of all his neighbours." " What about- their morals?" " Oh, morality between the sexes is* /v^iyr rrtdMeti^aify.* They are ea^£t£lysoly|jii3oils/l Al second wife is the first luxury an expert seal fisher thinks of procuring. Even the civilized relipse into poly- . gamy when than are sufficiently independent to defy excommunica'i >n and the censure of the Lutheran missionaries The. unmarried girls. do not, as a rule^ hjLtj^ i^fjni I Q VjWK but after marriage tho idea oingionopoly hardly WbttVV {{ o [yj «• What wefeniM ctief difficulties in crossing ?'' •• Tl»e snowstorm, through which we bad; to- plough out way by main foree r (Ote 4mvt W that low temperature is so sticVy, it costs a severe efforfitoctake a j single step. OurjSJe4gesi.la.«n [e^ici with 200 lb. 01 provisions, &o , drove heavily as if through loose sand. The crevasses in the glaciers w re ftwkard ; but when JuxtoDg the gla ers you are roped, so if you fall y«u do not fa 1 far." " What food did ; you find best ?" " Pemmican, trnd after pemmican meat chocolate. There is 80 per cent, of meat powder in the chocolate. It is \ erv nutritious " Andmedicme-i?''; » j" : W*^itie,lit, but did notjUeeAn^.i A"#o4iad'op^iiim pills and chloroform in case any one fell and sustained an accident severe enough to mcessi'ate nn amputation or en operation." '• Did you carry an opeiating saw ?" "No," replied Dr Ivnnsen, simply, •• I^d^ui) jjx.e," A grisly shudder pjieKeor ri4r»d^<tiiO table at the idea of such surgery." " Andi^yott wopld;Ua\e ..amputated a' limb with that ? " " Certainly," said the ur,c n crncd ;ouug descend nt of the sea kings, who in theii time would Va^"- thought uottliirg" More natural.— P 11 Mall Budget.