NEPHTHYS LONGISETOSA.
Hydroid polypes, widely distributed in several varieties in the Atlantic Ocean,—Asteridæ and Ophiuridæ, the Korethrastes hispidus (Wyv. Thomson), a new variety discovered by the Porcupine expedition between the Faroe and Shetland islands, Crinoidæ, represented by two species never before found so far north, and several Holothuriæ, were also among the acquisitions brought home. Our collection was rich in Annelides, containing seven-and-twenty varieties found in Greenland and Spitzbergen. Fourteen varieties of Bryozoa were found, and single specimens of Turbellaria and Gephyrea.
CHAPTER VII.
THE SECOND SLEDGE EXPEDITION.—AUSTRIA SOUND.
1. The first sledge journey enabled me to draw up a plan for a more extended expedition towards the north. It was not only a cherished scheme of my own, but it became also the dominating interest on board the Tegetthoff, although the other scientific investigations were carried on uninterruptedly. Weyprecht and Brosch continued with admirable perseverance the laborious observation of the Magnetic Constants, and measured on the ice close to the ship a base of 2170·8 metres, which served for all my trigonometrical surveys. The meteorological observations also were carried on with the usual regularity.
2. For some days the weather had been bad; its increasingly stormy character excited our fears, lest the ice should break up and the floe drift away with the ship. The danger of leaving her, in order to explore the extent of the new country, increased also with the longer duration of our proposed second journey. We were convinced, too, that the sea within a few days had broken up the ice almost as far as Wilczek Island, and a heavy water-sky was seen in the south at no great distance from us. Discoveries of importance could only be expected from an expedition of a month’s duration. But withal the venture must be made, and leaving the dangers and perils to the chances of the future, I gathered together the picked men who were to accompany me, to lay before them my plans. I explained to them my design of penetrating in a northerly direction as far as possible, and I put before them the danger of our being cut off from the ship. But while I showed the perils, I stimulated them also by the hope of reward. If the eighty-first degree of latitude were reached, I guaranteed to them the sum of £100; if we attained the eighty-second degree, £250; and I declared that merit, and merit alone, should regulate the distribution of these sums. In order to make sure of reticence on the part of my company and thus obviate ill-feeling among the rest of the crew, which might easily have been called forth by this apparent preference, they were told that the rewards would be forfeited, if any of those who stayed behind in the ship should hear of these rewards. The assembled company agreed also to my request never to mention dangers during the journey, and, in the event of our not finding the ship on our return, to take the whole blame of such an issue on our own shoulders. With regard to the rewards, I must add that never was a secret better kept. Immediately began on board a packing, a tailoring, a preparation as if for a campaign, and under the tent-roof of the ship the rusty runners of the sledges were polished, till they were as smooth as glass.
3. Before we started, there was an interesting interruption in the monotony of our lives, occasioned by a family of bears. While we were absent in our first journey a bear had been shot from the ship, and little Pekel had been wounded in the neck. On the 19th of March another bear came close to us, which was scared away after some unsuccessful shots had been fired at it. Three days afterwards a she-bear appeared accompanied by her two cubs, of a darker colour than their mother, rolling on after her. It was exceedingly interesting to watch the actions of this family. The mother frequently stopped and snuffed the air with uplifted snout; then she would lick her cubs, who fondly crept up to their mother, behaving exactly like young poodles, which they also resembled in size. Six shots were fired at seventy paces distance, and the mother-bear, after running for about forty paces, fell dead. Amazed at the reports of the rifles and the actions of their mother, the little bears sat as if they were rooted in the snow, and looked with astonishment at the dark forms which rushed out from the ship. One of them suffered itself to be shaken by Pekel; and only when they were seized by the nape of the neck and carried on board did they seem to entertain the least surmise of mischief. At first they were shut up separately in casks set on their end, and growled long and impatiently till they were put together in the same cask. Sumbu alone was slow to understand our suddenly-excited pity for his hereditary foes, and scratched and barked at the cask for hours together, while the cubs growled and threatened retaliation with their little paws. After looking at this for some time, Gillis was moved to side with the bears, and a battle ensued between him and Sumbu, in which the latter got the worst of it. The little animals afforded us much amusement, and the crew were seriously considering the feasibility of training them to draw in the sledge, in the meditated return expedition to Europe. They ate bread, sauerkraut, bacon—in short, everything that was given them. One morning, however, the little rascals eluded the eye of the watch and got away. They were immediately caught and killed, and appeared roasted on our dinner-table.
