ARCTIC SLEDGE JOURNEY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 107, 19 April 1933, Page 12

ARCTIC SLEDGE JOURNEY

YEAR AMONG THE SNOW TRAVEL IN CANADIAN RECION I CHARACTERISTICS OF ESKIMO One never catches cold in the Arctic. The traveller may hurl himself, in pyjamas and bare feet, out of his bunk into the snow at 2 a.m. during the Arctic night to quell a fight among his dogs and suffer no ill effects. He dresses like an Eskimo--inner and outer parkas and trousers, socks and mittens, all of caribou; boots of moose sole, legs of deerskin shanks or canvas; fur clothing of minimum weight to keep the body at an even temperature. Anomalously the Eskimos masquerade as whites—to their disadvantage. Tho younger generation particularly clutter up their wardrobe with woollen under wear, socks, shirts, trousers and tho like, believing such things to be stylish, if impracticable. Civilised attire of a modified sort is appropriate in the summer, but for winter travel in the Arctie nothing will ever equal furs in efficiency. Just returned from a year’s one-man expedition in the Western Canadian Arctic is Richard Finnic, F.R.G.S., of tho North-West Territories Department, who was born in the Yukon in 1906. He wintered in Coronation Gulf among tho Coppermine Eskimos. On earlier tours he accompanied Burwasli on the first flight over the North Magnetic Pole and in search of the relics of Franklin. FOOD ON THE JOURNEY. “Food on an Arctic sled journey,” Mr. Finnic says, “comprises rice, raisins, oatmeal, chocolate and tinned meat. A favourite one for its nourishment and compactness is a boiled mixture of beans and meat, poured into shallow pans and allowed to freeze, afterwards being broken up and deposited in a bag. Heated as required, it makes a palatable dish. Dried or frozen lish, carried primarily for dog feed, is looked upon by Eskimos and many white men as a great delicacy ‘au natural.’ A boon to the traveller is the thermos bottle. Containing tea. coffeo or even water, it provides not only refreshment but a means of icing the rled runners during the day’s march, obviating the tedious melting of snow.” Mr Finnic accompanied the doctoi from tie Government medical station at Coppermine, the farthest north clinic, on a tour to Kreusenstern trading post, on Coronation Gulf. They had two nine-dog sleds. In early afternoon. ISO miles north of the Arctic Circle, they came up with a small sled, hauled by three dogs and occupied by two boys, aged nine and twelve. Their father had died and tho boys took over his traplines and were keeping the home together. Next day the party met three Eskimo teams, headed for the same settlement, jvhere their families awaited them. Each of their sleds boro more than half a ton of salmon, trout and white fish, netted at the mouth of the Coppermine. Late in the same day tho dogs in tho leading team, which was breaking trail, persisted in swerving off to the left, despite the driver’s shouts of “Gee!” The explanation appeared when the moon rose over the horizon. The dogs had mistaken the moon for tho lighted ice window of an igloo marking the eud of tho trail. LAST DAY OF THE JOURNEY. On tho last, day of the journey tho travellers suddenly came across a tide crack, at right angles to their course, stretching in either direction as far as the eye could see. In some places 20ft. across, it seemed everywhere too great for the dogs to leap. The two white men weie depressed at tho prospect of a long trek to the shore to get across. The Eskimos quietly sat down and smoked their pipes. Then they walked along the crack, several hundred yards in the opposite direction to the shore, examining the crevice. Suddenly one gave an exultant cry, beckoning the others. The teams were driven to where he stood, where the erack had narrowed to eight feet. The dogs were unhitched from one of the longest sleds and it was pushed across the gap to form a bridge. The dogs, one at a time, were led over, tho sleds being pulled across later. “Tho doctor and I,” says Mr. Finnic, in describing the journey in the Canadian Geographical Journal, “had been impatient at the delay, but not so the Eskimos. They were inclined to regard it as a game to test their ingenuity. Lightheartedness is nn Eskimo characteristic. When confronted with a supposedly insoluble problem, even though their lives be at stake, they will quietly sit down and smoke their pipes, in the belief that everything will eventually turn out all right.”