An Ice-Bound Shore. Cruising along the Edge of 'the Pack'-Off Wrangel Land. 'Hove to' in an Arctic Gale-The Corwin's Misadventures. Aboriginal Merchant Middlemen of Two Continents. (Special Correspondence of the Bulletin.) Steamer Corwin, Arctic Ocean, Between Herald Shoals and Point Hope, September 3, 1881.

• Main Author: Muir, John
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1881
• Subjects: Environmentalist; naturalist; travel; conservation; national parks; John Muir; history; pamphlets; journal articles; speeches; writing; annotation; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Burrows; Ege; Ernes; Hove; Plover Bay; Point Hope; Diomede Island
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmb/167; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/context/jmb/article/1166/viewcontent/132.pdf

Written, Sep. 3, 1881 Pub. Oct.27 X •Oorwin" AY. OCTOBER 27. m ICE-BOMB SHORE. Cruising aloag the Ege of " the Facte" Off Wrangel Laad. " M.o'vb to " sm am Arctic Gale—'Sho CSc]r win's A'eorigi&al aserdiant Hid&l ernes of Two Continents. [SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF TEE" -BULLETIN.] -t / - , f f / Steameb Corwin, Arctic Ocean ) , (Between herald Shoals and Point Hope), r September s, isst. ) On the morning of August VlliC, having taken.a full supply of coal and water on board, and put the ship in as good condition as possible, we left Plover Bay and turned once more toward Wrangel Land. , In passisg Marcus Bay, a short distance up the ' coast Irorn Plover Bay, tbe Captain wished to make a landing to give some instructions to our Tjfehnckchi interpreter and dog-driver, who lives here, concerning the dogs and sleds that were left at Tapkan. Tbe weather was too thick, however, to allow this, and the ship was put on her course for the western Diomede Island, where we arrived, against a stiff head wind and through thick fog, shortly after noon on the 2St'K. We lay at anchor for a lew Sours, while tlie wind from the Arctic came dashing and swirling over the island in squally gusts- A-JH0JS1EDE- ESQUIMAU VILLAGE. In the meantime, while waiting to see whether the wind would moderate before going on- through the strait,, we went ashore ana greatly enjoyed a stroll through the streets and houses ol the curious Esquimau village here. It is built on the bald, rugged side ol tne island, where the slope is almost cliff-liKe in steepness and rockiness. The winter houses are wood-lined burrows under ground, entered by a tunnel, and warm and snug like the nest of a field- mouse beneath a sod, tiiougb terribly thick and rancid as to the air contained in them. Tbe summer nouses are square skin boxes above ground, and set on long stilt poles. Neither tne one nor the other look in the least like houses or huts of any sort, but those made of skin are tne queerest human'nests conoeiva-ble. They are simply light, square frames ...