Dr Nansen.

Manawatu Herald, 30 March 1897, Page 2

Dr Nansen.

> Dr Fridtjof Nansen was eater* tamed at a dinner of welcome by the members of the Savage Club, at the Olub House, Adelphi-terraee, Landoo, od the 6th January. llr'J. 1 Soott-Kelti presided, and over 300 members assembled to ho honour to 1 the distinguished explorer. The chairman, in proposing the health of Dr Nansen, said that in order to find anything analogous to the famous expedition they would have to go back to the voyage of Columbus in 1492. He asked them to drink " Skaal " to the hardy Norseman, to Lieut. Scott-Hanson, and to . th,e other brave fellows who have borne their part in that wonderful expedition. (Loud cheers.) Dr. Nansen, on rising to respond, met with an enthusiastic reception,

*r.T' ....". the eheera and cries of " Skaal " being renewed again and again. He said : — Brother Savages— l must Bay. I feel greatly honoured by the reception you have given me, though I think I really deserve it, because, . as a Savage, I think I have beaten you all. (Laughter and applause.) I feel qnite certain that if you had met me last summer, in the month . of Jane, you would admit that a batter Bpecimen of a savage you had never seen in your life. (Laughter.) I do not say so much about Lieut. Soott-Hansen, because he has not entitled himself so much to the' title of a savage, for he led a comfortable civilised life on board the Fram. As for myself, I must confess for the first time that 1 lived 15 months without Boap - (laughter) — and I think it is sufficient to make me a fitting member or guest of this club. (Loud laughter and applause.) I must confess that worse things happened than that. We have eaten raw meat— Polar hears, walruses, walraa blabber, blood, and sb on— jb^V, the worst of all, perhaps, was lh|, ! way ip which we had to clean „ ? „qnrifllfes. 'Well, 1 won't go into ' ! details. (Laughter, and ones of . "Do."). We had no soap, as I have t told you, and I can assure you it is , rather a nasty thing, after having been obliged to, skin walruses in the water and getting your clothes .. soaked through with fat and oil, to feel those clothes sticking to you 'in . the, most uncomfortable . way. We did oar best to keep ourselves clean, and, tried all sorts of different ways. . . We tried the Esquimaux way, but it was no good. What we had to do Was to use the knife and scrape ourselves. (Laughter.) That was all right, so far, for the knifewill scrape . tha skin clean in the long run if you ate it well. But it was worse with , par olothes, and - the only thing we could do with them was to boil them in par cooking pot.. (Laughter.) .■:.,, The fat, however, would remain in the clothes, so, after we had boiled them for a sufficient time to make them softer, we took them out, and, holding one end in the mouth, acraped them out in this way (illustrating it). We got out much fuel in that way,, and this we burned in the lamp. (Laughter.) Yea, it is 1 quite true. We had fuel for our lamps for a whole day, after having cleansed our clothes. ; When we -met Jackson, after having spent the whole winter in our hut, which was Hot as big as this room — it was 10ft long and 6ft broad, and we had to lie in our sleeping, bag the whole time— what happened ? One day I heard some dogs— -you may have read about it in the papers -and I met a man on the floe, and the first way in " whioh I felt the approach of civilisation was the scent of soap. (Laughter and applause.) I tell you all this just to show you. I have one incident, more to tell you. Mr Fisher, one of the members of the Jackson expedition, told me afterwards he was very disappointed when he met me. We thought we nad seen- Jackson on the ice watching us with a telescope, and they thought it must be Nansen, but Jackson did not recognise me at once. I had a somewhat different appearance to what he had seen of me before. Fisher said, " I read in some paper that you were a fair man, and I met a dark man on the ice. I Was very disappointed, because I thought it was not you." I tell you all this to prove to you that you have . a worthy guest here to-night. Well, I can assure you that the cordial reception yoa have given me— the lieutenant and me— to-night goes to . my heart, and I can only assure you that I have been only too proud to learn, after my return, that you had kept the poor name I wrote on that wall when I paid you a visit in 1892. (Cheers.) I cannot find words to thank yoa as heartily as I wish to do lor your kindness. (Loud and pro* longed applause.)