Evening Star Newspaper, October 27, 1894, Page 18

18 SSS ARCTIC TRAVEL Hot Weather Discomforts Amid the Snow and Ice. THE WELLMAN -PARTY- GOING NORTH Coffee Preferred to Tea, Although the Latter is More Heating. “A DISAPPOINTED BEAR > Walter Wellman. All rights (Copyright, 1804, by ; reserved.) ATURDAY, JUNE 23. So have now ar- | rived at an unnamed and little known is- ai land lying between \ the mainland of x northeast Spitzbergen end the Rep Island and are looking for a reasonabiy smooth ~£. highway to the north. <7 ~~ All sorts of exper!- ‘~ ences and adventures ae have we had with ice * and sea, and bear and * mountains and glaciers. We are not find- fing any impfovement in the road. In fact, the surface gets worse and worse as we ad- vance, and our experienced Norwegians say they never saw such an unfavorable fee year fw the Spitzbergen region. The story of the past fortnight’s labors and ad- ventures will be found in the following extracts from our.daily journal: June 15,.—Teday we leisurely finished our journey_to.the shore and found a fine camping place on the gravel beach. The men were very~giad to get on the dry ground . so glad that for the first time in more than three weeks we aban- @oned the boats as a sleeping place and made our beds on the dry gravel, with the tents over us; No more comfortable bed @kamber could be desired, and with the ae Writing Up the Joarnal. temperature at 851-2 degrees F., the high- est we have-yet.seen it, a bright sun and no wind, wesat out in the open air after supper to smoke our pipes and cigars and enjoy the genial atmosphere. That. supper! Was ever such a supper eaten before? Four large buckets of rich venison stew, three or four dozen fine steaks of the same meat, biscuit and apples —glorious evaporated apples from New England, rich and savorsome, and a large ng cupful for every man—and atop his our Norwegians as we write are gathered about the campfire stewing stews and frying steaks to their hearts’ and, we hope, anachs’ content. The Party Separates. After breakfast (June 16) the men are 4 together, and announcement is made of the program of the expedition. The main pafiy is to continue on the route already planned as-seon as the state of the ice or water will permit. The Kane Is to be sent back to Capt. Bottelfsen’s camp at Walden Island as soon as it can be made ready, with twenty days’ rations: for four men, and the men chosen for this party are Mate Sandbu, who is in charge; Mr. Heyerdahl, A Siesta. Mr. Winship and the Sailor Iversen. It ts with regret we part company with these gallant fellows, every one of whom has proved very useful to us. The Kane is our smallest and lightest boat, weighing only 250 pounds, and the men will not have to carry a sledge, for the boat will hold all their equipment. We fit them out with twenty days’ rations, though there fs little provability that they will be more than ten or twelve days in reaching their desti- nation. It is needless to say that all the men are sorry te go back. Every one of them would like to go on and share the for- tunes of the expedition, be they good or Ill. Prof. French has made some observa- tions here and finds the charts of this coast very inaccurate, The cape on which we ete camped, which is four or five miles farther east that the charts show, we have named Cape Gresham. June 17.—Yhe men were all this morning writing letters to send back by the Kane, if hopes that they will reach Norway by the hands of Capt. Bottelfsen. The Kane party left us at 2 this afternoon after hearty goed-byes between men who have learned to value one another's friend- ship, and a round of cheers for our depart- ing comrades. Half a dozen of our men accompanied the Kane for several miles, and the party of ten made the little boat fairly dance along the smooth snow of the shore. Tea and Co! About the only mistake we made in our food outfit was incurred through follow- ing aretie precedent. At the very start of this enterprise we determined to do things in our own way, permitting the experi- ence of other travelers in these regions to suggest and not to dictate. In the matter of tea and coffee we neglected to carry out our rule, but accepted the dictum of all the authoritles—about the only point on —~ Hard Work With the Lockwood. which they have been able to agree—that tea is the true arctic drink. We therefore Provided tea for dinner and supper and coffee for breakfast only. Now we wish we order, Every man in better than tea, and we are coffee hungry all the time. The Amatceng though liking coffee better, Feadily adapt themselves to tea, but the Norwegians, who ore not adaptable to any- thing in the way of diet, grumble when- ever tea ig Berved and down their portion of coffee as if it were nectar. They even boil the grounds.the second time and drink the brackish decoction, then eat the dregs out of the bottom of the pot. Our experi- ence is that, while tea may be more heat ing than coffee, as the arctic travelers say {t is, it is betger for men to have what they | widow. want, that which best satisfles them. With THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1894-TWENTY PAGES, , @ party like ours coffee is worth its welght in gold, while we have tea to spare. A Menagerie and Circus. After dinner, which was eaten in a broil- ing sun, with a temperature of forty-five degrees, far too hot for comfort, we had a menagerie and circus combined under the. great sky of the arctic summer. A big polar bear was seen about half a mile away making for a seal which was lying upon the ice beside his water hole. Nothing could exceed the sly skill-with which bruin approached his prey. First he went to the leeward of the seal,so that the scent should not betray his presence. Then he picked his way from behind one piece of high ice to another, always contriving to keep some screen between himself and the seal.Finaily after much maneuvering and peering out from behind his point of vantage, it be- came necessary for the wily brute to take the open. The ice bear is cunning enough to know that he has a very black: nose, Prof. French Making Observations. while the remainder of his body ts nearly the color of snow. So he held his forepaws in front of his nose, whose color might be- tray him to his intended victim, and with his belly on the surface of the ice shoved himself rapidly but noiselessly along with his powerful rear legs. When he had reach- ed within forty, feet of the seal, this black and rather stupid animal had sense enough to plunk into his hole and swim away out of danger. With two or three mighty bounds the bear was at the water hole, where he stuck his nose far down into the water in a vain search for the dinner which he had hoped to enjoy. When he realized that his meal had disappeared,he gave vent to his rage by loud growls, fierce shakings of his head and scratching snow and ice and throwing them high in the air with his terrible paws. After this fit of anger he appeared to feel better, and concluded to take a bath, ducking half his body into the seal hole and rolling in the snow and kick- ing up his heels in manifest delight. The temperature appeared to be much too high for his comfort,for several times after leav- ing the water hole he stopped to bathe himself in the pools on the surface of the ice. The Grateful Shade June 23.—The arctic summer is upon us. ‘Though the night was chill and cloudy, with a temperature of about thirty-five, the morning dawned with a hot-sun and a ris- ing mercury. ne may judge the pleasant nature of the weather from the fact that after breakfast this morning and the de- parture of one of the boats we sit down upon the Parry, with ccat off and hands bare, to write these werds in the journal. We even contrive to get in the shade. It is a perf2:tly’calm morning, and not a speck of cloud is to be seen. The sky is more deeply blue than even Italy.can boast. It 1s so still that one can hear the gurgling of the little streams of water falling down the hiliside, four miles away. The Lockwood and its crew are now fully a mile away, and the conversation of the men can be indis- tinctly heard, while the cries of the captain, as the rough places are encountered, seem to us but a few rods away. Vision is car- ried relatively as far as sound this clear morning. The coast of Northeast Land may be seen for fifty miles. The Seven Islands, forty miles away, appear but an afternoon's One of the Sleds. walk. Of course there fs no change in the situation. There ts nothing but ice on the one stle of the picture—ice reasonably smooth close inshore and very rough out- side—and mountainous land glaciers capped but with a fringe of black rocks along its sea face on the other. No more beautiful scefte than this sunlit {eescape could be im- agined, nor none more discouraging to the explorer. It seems as if the ice will never leave the shcre. All the winds we have had have been from the wrong quarter, and the period of calms has come upon us with the highway to the north effectually blocked by the roughness produced by the spring storms. WALTER WELLMAN, GOOD WORD FOR AMERICANS. Given Credit as Being the Kindlicst Race in the Wor!d. From the London Spectator. Take them 4s a whole, the Americans are the kindliest race on the face of the earth. In spite of their cagerness, their push, their desire to b2 in the front rank at all times and all seasons, the true American seldom falls In kindness. He wants badly to prevent any one getting ahead of him mentally, physically and morally, but If his competitor falls in the struggle he will make untold sacrifices to help him up. The rule in American business is pure cut-throat competition, carried to Its logical conclu- sion, You are expected to press and push every point as far as it can possibly be pushed and pressed, and no one {s expected to considef whether, in making a commer- cial coup, you will not ruin Brown, Jones and Robinson. The moment, however, fhat Brown, Jones or Robinson actually goes under he is treated with the utmost gener- osity and consideration. ‘The hand which struck him down Is in- stantly stretched forth to help him, and as much care and trouble are used to put him on his feet once again as were originally employed to knock him off them. In soctal on his feet once again as we re originally employed to knock him off them. In social Intercourse, this kindness and sunniness ts specially attractive. The American will take infinite pains to make‘ the merest stranger happy. He 1s courteous and pleas- ant spoken, not like the Frenchman, from convention, but from the sense of pleasure which his instinctive optimism teaches him to diffuse. His optimism has even proved strong enough to break down the shyness which naturally belongs to the English race. One sees, no doubt, survivals of it in the American; but in most cases the sense that all is for the best in the best possible of worlds has mastered it altogether. —— An Iden for the Drama. Alan Dale in New York Evening World. Here’s a brand-new idea for the melo- drama-mongers, who are always looking for rovel effects, and who have exhausted the possibilities of limited mail trains, coal mines, yawning chasms, shipwrecks and ex- plosions. The new idea Is offered gratis, and it 1s culled from a French novel by Dubut de Laforest, just issued, and entitled “Les Petites Hastas."” The hero is an American millionaire, eccentric, ostenta- tious and recklessly extravagant. There isa double-distilled villain, of the Uriah Heep type, who works an immense amount of mischief. The millionaire takes his huge yacht to France, and entertains there on a very lavish scale. For the delectation of his guests he brings from America.an exact model of the much-discussed pig-killing machine used by the famdus pork-packing firms of Chicago. It is in working order, and the millionaire brings forward a troupe of pigs. The animais pass over a “bridge of sfghs,” are forced into rings, killed, skin- ned, washed, cut into pieces, and then they finally appear in the shape of sausages and other delicacies. The guests are delighted. ‘The entertainment on the yacht is a huge success. After it 1s over they dance and make merry. Then—ah, ha!—the villain skulks fe has been drinking. He is in- toxicat He sees the pig-killing machine as through a glass, darkly. He approaches it; he examines it with maudlin curiosity. He Is unsteady on his feet. He falls in, and | the fatal machine treats him just as though he were a pig. Later on he ts discovered in the shape of sausages, and his watch and collar studs are handed to his distracted : Wouldn't this make a grand fifth act A REAL OLD MYTH The Origin of Bees Attributed to Spontaneous Generation. THE PART PLAYED BY THE DRONE FLY SEs Bo: PCA Something About These Insects That Resemble Honey Bees. THE DECAYING CARCASSES Written Exclusively for The Evening Star. 1s to UPERSTITION a hard thing smash. For centu- ries the theory was widely accepted that wild gweese were hatched from bar- nacles, The supposed fact was authenti- eated by such a mass of testimony that there was no contro- verting It apparently. Only within the last few years has nat- ural science been able to dispose of another notion equally absurd—namely, that bees are produced by spontaneous generation from the decaying carcasses of cattle, Hons and other beasts. After all, it was not very long ago that the theory of spontaneous generation was overthrown, So long as bellef in such a phenomenon was held, it is easy to see how people might have made such a mistake in regard to bees. For there is a’certain tn- sect known as the “drone-fly,” which lays its eggs in putrefying flesh. The larvae hatched from these eggs are eventually transformed into flies, which look so much like honey bees that even a naturalist would be apt to mistake one for the other off- hand. So it came about that the ancients ac- cepted this notion of the spontaneous gen- eration of bees from the dead bodies of animals. Naturalists of old, even the great Aristotle, made record of the phenomenon It is referred to in classica] Greek litera- ture. The myth runs back for at least 2,500 years, and probably much farther. It prevailed not only in Europe, but in northern Africa, and in parts of Asia. Through the middle ages it continued to be entertained, and the friend of Luther, the iearued and pious Melanchthon, refer- red to it as a divine provision for the re- production of bees. A Remarkable Resemblance. In anclent times there were no boards of health, and carcasses of cattle and other animals were often permitted to Me around and decompose. The drone flies propdgate under favorable circumstances with aston- ishing rapidity, and the phenomenon of their development was commonly open to the observation of everybody. It is not surprising that the ignorant shoyld have mistaken the insects for bees, though, as a matter of fact, bees are cleanly animals and never alight on carcasses. The bee has four wings and the fly only two; the female bee has a sting, and the fly has no sting. Nevertheless, the likeness between the two is very striking from the point of view of the superficial observer. ‘The drone fly belongs to a family which includes many handsomely colored flies, very fond of flowers. Their coloring con- sists, In many cases, of yellow crossbands and spots on the abdomen, with similar marks on the thorax; or else they are clothed with a hairy covering of different colors. The drone fly is of u duller coloring than most of the species of the fumily. it is very like a bee in its markings; it fre- queuts flowers and behaves among them as a bee does. Even in flying it carries its hind legs so as to imitate the pollen-freight- WOODMONT. Is beautifully situated on. the Tennallytown Electric Road at an elevation of about 490 feet above Washington. the Electric Road. depot will be cenvenient to ““WOODIION The car fare by commutation will be only $3 a month via The B. & O. R. R. will soon complete their extension, and the new NO FACTORIES will be allowed in “WOODMONT”’ to disturb the peace and cleanliness of this par- excellence subdivision. In addition to these advantages WOOD, HARMON & CO., the most generous firm in the world to their customers, Give Free Twenty-Five Building Lots, Eight Gold Prizes - From $50 to $150 Each, One Year’s Trans- portation, Life Insurance, And pay your Interest and Taxes, as follows: Twenty-five Lots Given Away. Toeach of the first 25 persons building and completing a house at ‘‘Woodmont’’ cost- ing not less than $1,000 before May 1, 1895 (said house must be commenced before Nov. 15, 1894,) we will give the lot, no matter where located, on which each of said per= 2 sons build, and refund all money paid on same, Free= -One Year’s Travel. We will also give a commutation ticket good between ‘“‘Woodmont” and Washing» ton for one year to one member of each family building and residing at ‘‘Wood- mont” by May 1, 189 5. And in addition to giving you a building lot and free transpor- tation for one ear we will also give to those who are first in the race to secure a home in this promising subdivision the following: Cash Prizes. To the first person completing a house at “Woodmont” (costing not less than $1,000,) beginning before November 15 1894, and completing same before [ay 1, 1895, we will give $150 in gold. To the second person we will give $125; to the third, $100; to the fourth, $90; to the fifth, $80; sixth, $70; seventh, $60; eighth, $50. ed limbs of the bee. In fact, it exhibits one }- of the most wonderful cases of mimicry in nature. The fly appears in great abundance at this season of the year, when the days be- come chilly. It is seen in a semi-torpid state, either sucking flowers or_crawling slowly upon walls and fences. The larva lives usually in dung heaps and cesspools. It has a long tail, with a telescopic ar- rangement for prolonging or shortening It, enabling the immature insect to remain several inches below the surface and to pump air from above It frequents sewers and putrid waters, crawling out finally to go into the chrysalis stage. Insects imported into this country from abroad—among them the honey bee—have usually appeared first on the Atlantic coast, spreading thence westward. Strange to Say, the drone fly seems to have followed &n opposite course. It exists in Japan and eastern Siberia, and from thence it is be- Heved to have migrated to the Pacific coast of North America, nobody knows how long ago. It di? not spread eastward at once, because the necessary conditions for Its ex- istence were wanting on the immense lains 1t had to cross—just as the potato ug lived ip the Rocky mourtains on a plant native to that region, and did not spread eastward until civilization brought the potato with It, thus bridging over for the beetle the distance between its native region and the Atlantic coast. The condi- tion brought by civilization, which favored the rapid eastward progress of the drone fly, consisted in drains, sewers and cess- pools. An Ancient Linenge. Dr. C. R. O. Sacken, to whom the writer is indebted, says that, except the silkworm and the honey bee, no other insect can show an historical record equal to that of the drone fly. The record begins In the dusk of prehistoric times and continues up to the present date. In its earliest days it appears like a myth, a misunderstood crea- ture, praised for qualities it never pos- sessed, a theme in prose and poetry; later on, the bubble of its glory having burst, it spreads with the human race and vies with it in prodigics of fecundity. The myth of Aristaeus, a demigod, who taught mon to keep bees, is the subject of an episode in the Georgics of Virgil. The substance of the story is that Aristaeus, son of Apollo and of a Thessallan girl, once upon a time lost his bees by famine and disease. In distress he applied to his mother, and through her intervention he was initiated into a mystic rite by which a swarm of bees was produced from a slaughtered ox. It was sumetimes alleged that the queen bee was produced from the brain of the ox and the ordinary bees from its flesh. Other writers improved upon the myth by asserting that while bees came from oxen exclusively wasps originated from asses, drones from horses and hornets from mules. Certain theorists declared that a horse must have been bitten by a wolf in order that its flesn should produce hor- nets. Commentators. have pretended to discover an early appearance of the myth in liter- ature in the story of Samson, in the Book of Judges, xiv:8. In the vineyards of Tim- nah Samson had killed a lion, and after a while, on his way to fetch his bride, he turned aside to see the carcass of the ani- mal. Behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the Hon and Loney. Samson took the honey in his hand and went on, eating as he went. It must have been, however, that the carcass had been reduced to the state of a clean skeleton, in which honey bees could take shelter. Prices and Terms: Size of lots, 25 feet front by 115 feet deep. Prices, $100 to 200. $2; balance in weekl First payment only payments of 1 per cent on all amounts of $200 and under; on amounts above $200 two-thirds of 1 per -cent. No Taxes. No Interest. We pay all taxes until purchaser has com- pleted payment for lot or lots and Deed has been given for same. We charge no interest on deferred payments. No Notes. No Mortgages. We require neither notes nor mortgages from purchasers. A plain, simply-worded “Bond for Title’ gives the purchaser posses- sion at time of first payment. Improvements. Avenues have been nicely graded, sub- stantial sidewalks laid, and choice varieties of shade trees will be planted along all avenues on which lots front, and many houses will soon be building. ‘ Title. : The title to this property has been exame- ined and is insured by the District Title Insur- ance Company. We Insure Your Life. In the event of death of the purchaser after the second payment has been made, the property purchased is assured to said pure chaser’s heirs, and will be deeded to them without one dollar’s additional cost provided said purchaser is in good health at time of pur- chase and is at no time in arrears in his or her payments. For free transportation toisee “WOODMONT” call on WOOD, HARMON CO., ' 525 Thirteenth Street Northwest. P. S.—Those who wish to go to “WOODMONT” Sunday can get tickets at the office any time Sunday morning from 9 to 12. eae —=: ART IN THE OCCIDENT. How Colonel Polk Introduced the Vio- Mnist to a Western Audience. From Harper's Magazine. The following {s said to be a verbatim ac- count of the introduction of an eminent violinist to a far western audience: “Ladies and gentlemen,” began Col. Hardy Polk, the well-known real estate agent, stepping to the front of the stage and acdressing the audience, “it is my privilege this evening to introduce to you Signor ———, the nctorious furrin fiddler, who will endeavor to favor us with some high-cless and A No. 1 violin playin’, The signor was born and ralsed in Italy, where fiddiin’ 1s not merely a fad, but as much of @ business as polities is in this country, and when it comes to handlin’ the bow he emphatically knows whur he is at. He hasn't dropped into our midst by accident, but comes under the auspices of the Liter- ary Scciety, which is payin’ his wages and backin’ him to the last gasp. So let it be understood that if you happen to have any criticisms to offer you are to do your kickin’ to the society and not to the signor. I'll jest add that if you expect him to swing the fiddle around his head or play it under his leg. like we used to skip stones across the swimmin’ hole when we were little boys and girls, you may just as well go right now and git your money back from the doorkeeper, for the signor hain’t that kind of a player. That's all I have to say at present. Start her up, signor.” : A Good Rule. From the Philadelphia Record. Keep your troubles to yourself. When you tell thefn you are taking up the time of the man who is waiting to tell his. THE AMELIE OF TODAY. Mrs, Chanier Has Not the Ingenuous Girlhood Ways any More. Mrs. Chanler has a strong face, regular features and with a chin of firmness. Her nose is a littlp inclined to be beaked, some- what like her father’s. There ts the pa- trician air about her tempered with gentle- ness. One forgets in her presence that she could write a book throbbing with human passions that at times reach a paroxysm of frenzy greater in intensity than any- thing Dante has ever written. In one less gifted it would have been con- sidered puerile sentiment run mad. This handseme matron, still young, still in the prime of a glorious womanhood, has! all that wealt’ can give. But has she reached the zenith of her aspirations, or does she still dream that she will write a book which will create more comment and more criti- cism than “The Quick or the Dead?” No one can fathom that question by gazing at her handsome face. Her life abroad and the homage that has been p:{d her haye robbed her of the ingenuous girlhood ways which her friends knew and loved so well in her rural home. That fs not saying she fs not sincere and not as friendly as ever. It means that she has had to meet soctety and iearn its diplomatic politeness. She is at present planning a trip through the Holy fora a He Knew His Basines: From Life. Proprietor—“Why did you tell the lady you would not return her money if the tle did not suit?” New Clerk—' husband.” “She was buying it for her FEAR IN BIRDS. It is the Result of Persecution and Not of Instinct. From the London Quarterly. This may be a fitting place to glance at the instinct of fear in birds. Mr. Hudson does not accept without more than the pro- verbial grain of salt the Darwinian theory that birds instinctively fear man, and that the instinct is hereditaty. We note in this matter, as in many others, Mr. Hudson's capacity for looking at things as they ex- ist, and his unwillingress to square un- usual or exceptioral phenomena with pre- conceived ideas and ready-made theories, even when widely accepted by eminent scl- entists. He boldly faces the inexplicable, and has no fear of being declared unortho- dox. He objects to Darwin's theory on the ground that the growth of an hereditary instinct of fear would require more time than the theory provides for, “Instincts practically endure forever, and are not pre- gumably acquired with such extraordinary faciilty.” Shyness in birds, he thinks, is the result of persecution, and young birds learn the habit from thelr parents. This persecution is not necessarily persecution by man; it may be by other birds. Mr. Hud- son often found birds in the ert,to whom the human form was almost finknown, shy- er than in the vicinity of human dwellings. Young domestic birds are tamer than old ones, evincing little if any instinctive fear of man. Suspicion has its root in the strangeness of an object, or in experience of man's destructive power; confidence eprings out of familiarity, and experience of man’s kindness. Fear of man is an as- sociated feeling. BED SPREADS AND PILLOW SLIPS, They Must Be Dainty, Spotless an@ Inviting to Look Upon. From the New York Herald. Renaissance lace spreads and round boly sters covered with the same are the trimmings most in vogue among the wealthy folk, but there are a host of simple thingg which are charming and have the merit of being available as well. Splendor may be desirable, but somehow it does not ape peal to my sense of desirableness, and am so spared the agony of envy many, times. A bed, according to my notion, should be tempting and inviting. Even during the day, when it is not, of course, in use, if ought to suggest rest and a welcome repose, Hard, wooden looking bolsters, which see to = any approach, certainly do nok contribute to that end, and lace too spleny did to be handled is hardly a covering which seems suggestive of a delicious morning nap. On the other hand, slovenliness ts a most detestable thing. The perfect bed is dainty, ie quiet, is tempting, is suggestive of pile lows that yield to the tired head and of rey pose for wearied nerves. Even in its — dress it never fails to be restful. Its co" is spotless, its slips are of the daintiest. —— +406 — — Blessings of One of the From the Chicago Record. Teacher—“‘You may tell us, Tommy, of the ways in which the element of fi confers a benefit on the human race.” Tommy (who knows something of his fae ther’: i thods}—“"When the am: ther’s business me' Wan the Gains oF ments. A Surprised Pickaninny,