This sudden increase of cold was most fortunate. Even in temperate1 climes there are generally three or four bitter days in May; and they were most serviceable now in consolidating2 the freshly-fallen snow, and making it practicable for sledges3. Lieutenant4 Hobson, therefore, lost no time in resuming his journey, urging on the dogs to their utmost speed.
The route was, however, slightly changed. Instead of bearing due north, the expedition advanced towards the west, following, so to speak, the curve of the Arctic Circle. The Lieutenant was most anxious to reach Fort Confidence, built on the northern extremity5 of the Great Bear Lake. These few cold days were of the greatest service to him; he advanced rapidly, no obstacle was encountered, and his little troop arrived at the factory on the 30th May.
At this time Forts Confidence and Good Hope were the most advanced posts of the Company in the north. Fort Confidence was a most important position, built on the northern extremity of the lake, close to its waters, which being frozen over in winter, and navigable in summer, afforded easy access to Fort Franklin, on the southern shores, and promoted the coming and going of the Indian hunters with their daily spoils. Many were the hunting and fishing expeditions which started from Forts Confidence and Good Hope, especially from the former. The Great Bear Lake is quite a Mediterranean6 Sea, extending over several degrees of latitude7 and longitude8. Its shape is very irregular: two promontories9 jut10 into it towards the centre, and the upper portion forms a triangle; its appearance, as a whole, much resembling the extended skin of a ruminant without the head.
Fort Confidence was built at the end of the “ right paw,” at least two hundred miles from Coronation Gulf11, one of the numerous estuaries12 which irregularly indent13 the coast of North America. It was therefore situated14 beyond the Arctic Circle, but three degrees south of the seventieth parallel, north of which the Hudson’s Bay Company proposed forming a new settlement.
Fort Confidence, as a whole, much resembled other factories further south. It consisted of a house for the officers, barracks for the soldiers, and magazines for the furs - all of wood, surrounded by palisades. The captain in command was then absent. He had gone towards the east on a hunting expedition with a few Indians and soldiers. The last season had not been good, costly15 furs had been scarce; but to make up for this the lake had supplied plenty of otter16-skins. The stock of them had, however, just been sent to the central factories in the south, so that the magazines of Fort Confidence were empty on the arrival of our party.
In the absence of the Captain a Sergeant17 did the honours of the fort to Jaspar Hobson and his companions. This second officer, Felton by name was a brother-in-law of Sergeant Long. He showed the greatest readiness to assist the views of the Lieutenant, who being anxious to rest his party, decided18 on remaining two or three days at Fort Confidence. In the absence of the little garrison19 there was plenty of room, and dogs and men were soon comfortably installed. The best room in the largest house was of course given to Mrs Paulina Barnett, who was delighted with the politeness of Sergeant Felton.
Jaspar Hobson’s first care was to ask Felton if any Indians from the north were then beating the shores of the Great Bear Lake
“Yes, Lieutenant,” replied the Sergeant; “we have just received notice of the encampment of a party of Hare Indians on the other northern extremity of the lake.”
“How far from here?” inquired Hobson.
“About thirty miles,” replied Sergeant Felton. “Do you wish to enter into communication with these Indians?”
“Yes,” said Hobson; they may be able to give me some valuable information about the districts bordering on the Arctic Ocean, and bounded by Cape20 Bathurst. Should the site be favourable21, I propose constructing our new fort somewhere about there.”
“Well, Lieutenant, nothing is easier than to go to the Hare encampment.”
“Along the shores of the lake?”
“No, across it; it is now free from ice, and the wind is favourable. We will place a cutter and a boatman at your service, and in a few hours you will be in the Indian settlement.”
“Thank you, Sergeant; to-morrow, then.” Whenever you like, Lieutenant.”
The start was fixed22 for the next morning; and when Mrs Paulina Barnett heard of the plan, she begged the Lieutenant to allow her to accompany him, which of course he readily did.
But now to tell how the rest of this first day was passed. Mrs Barnett, Hobson, two or three soldiers, Madge, Mrs Mac-Nab, and Joliffe explored the shores of the lake under the guidance of Felton. The neighbourhood was by no means barren of vegetation; the hills, now free from snow, were crowned by resinous23 trees of the Scotch24 pine species. These trees, which attain25 a height of some forty feet, supply the inhabitants of the forts with plenty of fuel through the long winter. Their thick trunks and dark gloomy branches form a striking feature of the landscape; but the regular clumps26 of equal height, sloping down to the very edge of the water, are somewhat monotonous27. Between the groups of trees the soil was clothed with a sort of whitish weed, which perfumed the air with a sweet thymy odour. Sergeant Felton informed his guests that this plant was called the “ herb of incense28 “ on account of the fragrance29 it emits when burnt.
Some hundred steps from the fort the party came to a little natural harbour shut in by high granite30 rocks, which formed an admirable protection from the heavy surf. Here was anchored the fleet of Fort Confidence, consisting of a single fishing-boat — the very one which was to take Mrs Barnett and Hobson to the Indian encampment the next day. From this harbour an extensive view was obtained of the lake; its waters slightly agitated31 by the wind, with its irregular shores broken by jagged capes32 and intersected by creeks33. The wooded heights beyond, with here and there the rugged34 outline of a floating iceberg35 standing36 out against the clear blue air, formed the background on the north; whilst on the south a regular sea horizon, a circular line clearly cutting sky and water, and at this moment glittering in the sunbeams, bounded the sight.
The whole scene was rich in animal and vegetable life. The surface of the water, the shores strewn with flints and blocks of granite, the slopes with their tapestry37 of herbs, the tree-crowned hill-tops, were all alike frequented by various specimens38 of the feathered tribe. Several varieties of ducks, uttering their different cries and calls, eider ducks, whistlers spotted39 redshanks, “old women,” those loquacious40 birds whose beak41 is never closed, skimmed the surface of the lake. Hundreds of puffins and guillemots with outspread wings darted42 about in every direction, and beneath the trees strutted43 ospreys two feet high-a kind of hawk44 with a grey body, blue beak and claws, and orange-coloured eyes, which build their huge nests of marine45 plants in the forked branches of trees. The hunter Sabine managed to bring down a couple of these gigantic ospreys, which measured nearly six feet from tip to tip of their wings, and were therefore magnificent specimens of these migratory46 birds, who feed entirely47 on fish, and take refuge on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico when winter sets in, only visiting the higher latitudes48 of North America during the short summer.
But the most interesting event of the day was the capture of an otter, the skin of which was worth several hundred roubles.
The furs of these valuable amphibious creatures were once much sought after in China; and although the demand for them has considerably49 decreased in the Celestial50 Empire, they still command very high prices in the Russian market. Russian traders, ready to buy up sea-otter skins, travel all along the coasts of New Cornwall as far as the Arctic Ocean; and of course, thus hunted, the animal is becoming very rare. It has taken refuge further and further north, and the trackers have now to pursue it on the shores of the Kamtchatka Sea, and in the islands of the Behring Archipelago.
“But,” added Sergeant Felton, after the preceding explanation, “American inland otters51 are not to be despised, and those which frequent the Great Bear Lake are worth from ￡50 to ￡60 each.”
The Sergeant was right; magnificent otters are found in these waters, and he himself skilfully52 tracked and killed one in the presence of his visitors which was scarcely inferior in value to those from Kamtchatka itself. The creature measured three feet from the muzzle53 to the end of its tail; it had webbed feet, short legs, and its fur, darker on the upper than on the under part of its body, was long and silky.
“A good shot, Sergeant,” said Lieutenant Hobson, who with Mrs Barnett had been attentively54 examining the magnificent fur of the dead animal.
“Yes, Lieutenant,” replied Felton; “and if each day brought us such a skin as that, we should have nothing to complain of. But much time is wasted in watching these animals, who swim and dive with marvellous rapidity. We generally hunt them at night, as they very seldom venture from their homes in the trunks of trees or the holes of rocks in the daytime, and even expert hunters find it very difficult to discover their retreats.”
“And are these otters also becoming scarcer and scarcer?” inquired Mrs Barnett.
“Yes, madam,” replied the Sergeant; “and when this species becomes extinct, the profits of the Company will sensibly decline. All the hunters try to obtain its fur, and the Americans in particular are formidable rivals to us. Did you not meet any American agents on your journey up, Lieutenant?”
“Not one,” replied Hobson. “Do they ever penetrate55 as far as this?”
“Oh yes!” said the Sergeant; “and when you hear of their approach, I advise you to be on your guard.”
“Are these agents, then, highway robbers?” asked Mrs Paulina Barnett.
“No, madam,” replied the Sergeant; “but they are formidable rivals, and when game is scarce, hunters often come to blows about it. I daresay that if the Company’s attempt to establish a fort on the verge56 of the Arctic Ocean be successful, its example will at once be followed by these Americans, whom Heaven confound!”
“Bah!” exclaimed the Lieutenant; “the hunting districts are vast, and there’s room beneath the sun for everybody. As for us, let’s make a start to begin with. Let us press on as long as we have firm ground beneath our feet, and God be with us!”
After a walk of three hours the visitors returned to Fort Confidence, where a good meal of fish and fresh venison awaited them. Sergeant Long did the honours of the table, and after a little pleasant conversation, all retired57 to rest to forget their fatigues58 in a healthy and refreshing59 sleep.
The next day, May 31st, Mrs Barnett and Jaspar Hobson were on foot at five A.M. The Lieutenant intended to devote this day to visiting the Indian encampment, and obtaining as much useful information as possible. He asked Thomas Black to go with him, but the astronomer60 preferred to remain on terra firma. He wished to make a few astronomical61 observations, and to determine exactly the latitude and longitude of Fort Confidence; so that Mrs Barnett and Jaspar Hobson had to cross the lake alone, under the guidance of an old boatman named Norman, who had long been in the Company’s service.
The two travellers were accompanied by Sergeant Long as far as the little harbour, where they found old Norman ready to embark62. Their little vessel63 was but an open fishing-boat, six feet long, rigged like a cutter, which one man could easily manage The weather was beautiful, and the slight breeze blowing from the north-east was favourable to the crossing. Sergeant Felton took leave of his guests with many apologies for being unable to accompany them in the absence of his chief. The boat was let loose from its moorings, and tacking64 to starboard, shot across the clear waters of the lake.
The little trip passed pleasantly enough. The taciturn old sailor sat silent in the stern of the boat with the tiller tucked under his arm. Mrs Barnett and Lieutenant Hobson, seated opposite to each other, examined with interest the scenery spread out before them. The boat skirted the northern shores of the lake at about three miles’ distance, following a rectilinear direction, so that the wooded heights sloping gradually to the west were distinctly visible. From this side the district north of the lake appeared perfectly65 flat, and the horizon receded66 to a considerable distance. The whole of this coast contrasted strongly with the sharp angle, at the extremity of which rose Fort Confidence, framed in green pines. The flag of the Company was still visible floating from the tower of the fort. The oblique67 rays of the sun lit up the surface of the water, and striking on the floating icebergs68, seemed to convert them into molten silver of dazzling brightness. No trace remained of the solid ice-mountains of the winter but these moving relies, which the solar rays could scarcely dissolve, and which seemed, as it were, to protest against the brilliant but not very powerful Polar sun, now describing a diurnal69 arc of considerable length.
Mrs Barnett and the Lieutenant, as was their custom, communicated to each other the thoughts suggested by the strange scenes through which they were passing. They laid up a store of pleasant recollections for the future whilst the beat floated rapidly along upon the peaceful waves.
The party started at six in the morning, and at nine they neared the point on the northern bank at which they were to land. The Indian encampment was situated at the north-west angle of the Great Bear Lake. Before ten o’clock old Norman ran the boat aground on a low bank at the foot of a cliff of moderate height. Mrs Barnett and the Lieutenant landed at once. Two or three Indians, with their chief, wearing gorgeous plumes70, hastened to meet them, and addressed them in fairly intelligible71 English.
These Hare Indians, like the Copper72 and Beaver73 Indians, all belong to the Chippeway race, and differ but little in customs and costumes from their fellow-tribes. They are in constant communication with the factories, and have become, so to speak, “Britainised” — at least as much so as is possible for savages74. They bring the spoils of the chase to the forts, and there exchange them for the necessaries of life, which they no longer provide for themselves. They are in the pay of the Company, they live upon it, and it is not surprising that they have lost all originality75. To find a native race as yet uninfluenced by contact with Europeans we must go to still higher latitudes, to the ice-bound regions frequented by the Esquimaux, who, like the Greenlanders, are the true children of Arctic lands.
Mrs Barnett and Jaspar Hobson accompanied the Indians to their camp, about half a mile from the shore, and found some thirty natives there, men, women, and children, who supported themselves by hunting and fishing on the borders of the lake. These Indians had just come from the northernmost districts of the American continent, and were able to give the Lieutenant some valuable, although necessarily incomplete, information on the actual state of the sea-coast near the seventieth parallel. The Lieutenant heard with considerable satisfaction that a party of Americans or Europeans had been seen oil the confines of the Polar Sea, and that it was open at this time of year. About Cape Bathurst, properly so called, the point for which he intended to make, the Hare Indians could tell him nothing. Their chief said, however, that the district between the Great Bear Lake and Cape Bathurst was very difficult to cross, being hilly and intersected by streams, at this season of the year free from ice. He advised the Lieutenant to go down the Coppermine river, from the north-east of the lake, which would take him to the coast by the shortest route. Once at the Arctic Ocean, it would be easy to skirt along its shores and to choose the best spot at Which to halt.
Lieutenant Hobson thanked the Indian chief, and took leave after giving him a few presents. Then accompanied by Mrs Barnett, he explored the neighbourhood of the camp, not returning to the boat until nearly three o’clock in the afternoon.
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temperate
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| adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的 | |
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consolidating
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| v.（使）巩固， （使）加强( consolidate的现在分词 )；（使）合并 | |
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sledges
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| n.雪橇，雪车( sledge的名词复数 )v.乘雪橇( sledge的第三人称单数 )；用雪橇运载 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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longitude
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| n.经线，经度 | |
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promontories
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| n.岬，隆起，海角( promontory的名词复数 ) | |
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jut
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| v.突出；n.突出，突出物 | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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estuaries
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| （江河入海的）河口，河口湾( estuary的名词复数 ) | |
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indent
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| n.订单，委托采购，国外商品订货单，代购订单 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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otter
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| n.水獭 | |
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sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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resinous
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| adj.树脂的，树脂质的，树脂制的 | |
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scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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clumps
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| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
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monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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capes
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| 碎谷； 斗篷( cape的名词复数 )； 披肩； 海角； 岬 | |
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creeks
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| n.小湾( creek的名词复数 )；小港；小河；小溪 | |
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rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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iceberg
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| n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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tapestry
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| n.挂毯，丰富多采的画面 | |
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specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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loquacious
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| adj.多嘴的，饶舌的 | |
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beak
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| n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻 | |
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darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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strutted
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| 趾高气扬地走，高视阔步( strut的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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marine
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| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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migratory
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| n.候鸟，迁移 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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latitudes
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| 纬度 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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otters
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| n.（水）獭( otter的名词复数 )；獭皮 | |
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52
skilfully
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| adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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53
muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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55
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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56
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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57
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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fatigues
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| n.疲劳( fatigue的名词复数 )；杂役；厌倦；（士兵穿的）工作服 | |
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refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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60
astronomer
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| n.天文学家 | |
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astronomical
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| adj.天文学的，（数字）极大的 | |
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62
embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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63
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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64
tacking
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| （帆船）抢风行驶，定位焊[铆]紧钉 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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66
receded
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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oblique
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| adj.斜的，倾斜的，无诚意的，不坦率的 | |
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icebergs
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| n.冰山，流冰( iceberg的名词复数 ) | |
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69
diurnal
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| adj.白天的，每日的 | |
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70
plumes
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| 羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物 | |
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71
intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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72
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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73
beaver
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| n.海狸，河狸 | |
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74
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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75
originality
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| n.创造力，独创性；新颖 | |
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