A CRUISE IN THE ARCTIC SEA.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2398, 23 November 1880, Page 4

A CRUISE IN THE ARCTIC SEA.

Tlie “San Francisco Chronicle” publishes a lung and interesting narrative, by Lieutenant Hand, of the voyage of the Arctic whalers’ relief vessel. Thomas Corwin, which left San Francisco in May last. It took nine days to get through the ice-pack to reach St. Michael. The party were there informed by the Esquimaux that the winter had been the most severe known for many years. The people there were surprised to see them, haring no idea that any kind of a vessel could penetrate the ice-pack. They also said the winter had been terribly severe, the thermometer falling as low as forty degrees below zero for weeks at a time, and sometimes even lower, and that it was reported at the mission, a station on the Yukon River, some 400 miles inland, that the thermometer had dropped on one occasion to 72deg below zero. Only one day was passed here, and th e gallant little Corwin started again through the ice with the prow pointing towards Behring Straits. On the second day out from St Michael they reached St Lawrence Island, where it was reported a famine had swept away nearly the whole population during the previous year. The island is ninety miles long from cast to west. The Corwin steamed along close in by the shore, working its way through the ice. At last the settlements were reached, and each one that was visited presented the same dreary scene of death and desolation. Not a sign of life was to be seen anywhere. Not a solitary dug or rat was to be found about any of the rude huts ; but in front of the houses, in a ghastly row, lay the dead bodies of those who had succumbed to the terrible hunger. They had lain there for lifteen months, and the Corwin’s party were probably the lirst to look upon them. Their clothes had rotted off the bodies, but the forms were preserved by the cold so that the}’ looked like mummies. The skin was drawn tightly over thei emaciated faces and forms, and looked like ancient parchment. In a few houses bodies were found in various postures, just as they fell in the last agqny of solitary death. As long as there were any survivors to perform the service the corpses were placed in the regular rooms in front of the huts. At one place were found fifty .bodies side, by side, some being the remains of little children, while others were the corpses of old people. The usual litter and refuse which surround the Esquimaux huts were lacking, and there was not a scrap left of any kind of food. The cleanly-gnawed bones showed they had eaten their dogs ; they had even devoured the rats which invested the village ; they had chewed up the old bits of walrus hide—everything which would satisfy the cravings of hunger. At last they had perished miserably, dying by inches, with no hope of succor and no chance of escape. At least 500 of the poor wretches suffered this hideous death. To explain this terrible famine, which was as unusual as it was fatal, it must be added that the season was’one of unparalleled severity. The Natives of this island were large, robust men, and expert hunters and fishermen. But, like most of their race, they were improvident, and made no provision for such a winter. The cold set in early and continued without interruption. The mercury was 40deg below zero for weeks at a time. The cold and the violent storms prevented them from going out on the ice to catch walrus and seals —their main depcndance for food in the winter. Their scanty stock of meat was soon exhausted ; they were many miles from Siberia, and could not have reached it alive in the face of the bitter wind. At the north-west end of (he island a settlement of about 250 people was found. They had suffered severely from the famine, only about one-half of the original Colony having survived. They had had a larger stock of provisions than their unfortunate neighbors, and thus escaped complete annihilation. At this settlement the customs of the Natives are savage and brutal. It is usual for the old people, when they feel that they can work no longer, to announce that fact to their children. Then the poor creatures are taken out of the hut and either knocked on the head or stabbed by their sons. If they fail to give warning of their helplessness the children are quick to detect the signs of age, and promptly despatch their parents, generally by beating them over the head. The bodies are seldom buried; they are cast to the dogs, who devour them.