“No one thought of pursuing him, for their first care was to carry the wounded man on board, whither the doctor and Herr Tranmitz had gone in order to prepare the requisites for binding up the wounds. The main injuries were in the head, where, amongst numerous other wounds from the bites, two especially from 4 to 6 inches long ran along the scalp, the edges of which hung loose, leaving the skull bare for one-third to two-fifths of an inch. The other wounds, about twenty in number, were in part caused by striking against the fragments and rough broken edges of the ice. It is worth while mentioning that, neither during the act of receiving the wounds nor during the process of healing, which progressed favourably, did I experience the smallest pain.”
The sledge-journey to the north left on the 8th March 1870. The party consisted of ten men, and they had two sledges. The smaller sledge had four men who were to accompany the expedition for a week, and then return after laying a dépôt. A storm and the low temperature forced them to return to the ship a few days after leaving.
On the 24th March they started again. During the first day one of the men had the whole of his right foot frost-bitten, and the convoy-sledge had to return to the ship. A herd of musk-oxen was seen on Hochstetter’s Promontory, but none was shot. A bear was killed on the 4th of April, and supplied the party with meat, and his fat served as fuel four days. On the 6th of April they crossed the 76° of latitude, and on the south side of Cape Karl Ritter discovered traces of Esquimaux summer tents. On the 11th April, Cape Bismarck in 76° 47′ was reached, and this was the end of the actual sledge-journey. Leaving their tent here, they journeyed to a mountain in 77° 1′ north latitude, and 18° 50′ west longitude, where a cairn was erected. Provisions were now running short, and they were compelled to return. Two musk-oxen were shot at Cape Bismarck. Like many of the other expeditions about this period, they suffered greatly from want of snow-shoes, and frequently had to wade through snow up to the thighs. The difficulties of such a sledge-journey are well described by Lieutenant Payer:—
“Amongst other disagreeables of an Arctic sledge-journey is its monotony. The ideas and wishes contained within the limited horizon of life in the Arctic world pass as quickly away as the eye is wearied by the monotony of the landscape.
“Conversation carried on by men straining at the traces can certainly not be very animated. The frost prevents smoking, for the pipes freeze. There is a continued conflict against the loss of warmth; and the cold penetrates in a hundred different ways. Now the chin is numbed, a painful straining of the forehead sets in, or a violent pricking of the nostrils, which are exposed to the wind. Sometimes one stands in danger of the heels, the toes, or the hands being frost-bitten. The hair of the face, and even the eyelashes, get hoar with frost,—indeed, the eyes are often completely closed,—and every frozen spot on the body must at once be rubbed with lumps of snow resembling pumice-stone, until a warm, pricking glow succeeds. When, as in the case of many of our party, the frozen hands or feet were not rubbed with snow until too late, it led to numerous blisters. The fingers swelled up into lumps, and became quite numbed; but the noses (the whole eight of which were frozen) were more fortunate: they emerged from a white into a red stage of enlarged dimensions, were eventually covered with a parchment-like skin, remaining for some time most sensitive, and by slow degrees regained their normal condition, so that by the time we landed in Europe they were all right again. The heat of our bodies, which we did our best to retain by warm woollen clothes, was carried away in a moment by the slightest wind; and if it increased, the cold crept between every button of our seal-skin clothing; the penetrating icy wind was felt at every stitch; the arms hung down like lead, deadly cold, and no one dared to walk about without a mask. If the wind rose still more, curtains of penetrating snow-crystals rose with it from the ground; then a snowstorm, which always comes from the north, might be expected, announcing itself by a lofty white appearance in the south, the violet colour and close proximity of the mountains, and low-hanging clouds. But still we risk the march forward against the thickening snow, until painful breathing and stiffening limbs warn us to pitch our tent.
“Under ordinary circumstances this was done about 6 or 7 p.m., on a smooth surface. A hole was quickly dug with shovels, on which the tent was erected, and the dug-out blocks of snow laid round it for safety against the storm, and the sledge placed as a shield to the north. The tent was kept upright by means of four long poles, each crossed at the top, stretched by ropes fastened to axes or piles driven into the ground. When the sleeping-sack had been laid down in the tent, our personal baggage settled, the kettle filled with blocks of snow by the cook, the lamp lit, and the rations given out, our comrades, who, owing to the increased cold since the setting of the sun, had meanwhile been running and jumping to keep themselves warm, were allowed to enter.
“During our last half-hour’s march, each man had been busy thawing his beard with his hands, for it had been changed into a lump of ice, so that it might not melt whilst the cooking was going on, and so wet their clothes and coverings. As soon as all were in their places in the tent, the aperture was closed, and preparations made for passing the night.
“The stiff sail-cloth boots, fast frozen to the stockings which were to form our pillows, were thawed between the hands, and with difficulty taken off; the stockings, thick with rimy snow, were scraped, then wrung and laid upon the breast, to dry by our only available means—our bodily heat—so as to prepare them for the following day’s work.
“At last all have wriggled themselves into the sleeping−sack, each one lying partly on his neighbour, and in this modest space waiting for the evening meal.
“The first hour is spent in melting the snow, the second in preparing the meal, which is devoured eagerly, and as cool as possible. The development of steam during the cooking (which in the very cold weather consumed one bottle of spirit, or 1 lb.) put us into such a vapour-bath that we could not even see our next neighbour; the tent walls were completely wet through; and the temperature rose rapidly. The dampness of the coverings and clothes, from the condensation of the steam on the rime, of course increased, and the opening of the tent door occasioned a fall of snow within, so that by the time the cooking was over, all was covered with a thick coating of ice or crust of snow.