The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fast in the Ice, by R.M. Ballantyne

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: Fast in the Ice
Adventures in the Polar Regions

Author: R.M. Ballantyne

Release Date: November 15, 2007 [EBook #23492]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAST IN THE ICE ***

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

Fast in the Ice, Adventures in the Polar Regions, by R.M. Ballantyne.

________________________________________________________________________
This little book describes a visit up to the Arctic regions, that was
supposed to have taken place long before the book was written, in other
words in the early part of the nineteenth century. The purpose of the
journey was to get near to the North Pole, which was considered to be
surrounded by a large area of ice-free water. The vessel in which they
sailed became beset by ice, and could not be moved. They met with
Esquimaux, and saw how they survived, how they killed walrus, how they
caught birds, and how they lived in their ice-houses, or igloos. They
also had several encounters with polar bears, and musk-ox.

Eventually they have been in the ice for a couple of years, and some of
the men are suffering from scurvy. Europeans get scurvy from lack of
fruit and vegetables, but this condition doesn't seem to affect the
Esquimaux, whose meat and fat diet does not cause them to have heart
disorders, either.

The crew eventually abandon the vessel, which has been crushed suddenly
and totally by a stream of ice-floes, and are obliged to walk out of
where they had spent so much time. Luckily, when at their last gasp,
they find an Esquimaux village, where they learn that there is a Danish
settlement not too far away, and that from it they can take ship for
Europe, and eventually make their way back to Britain.

________________________________________________________________________
FAST IN THE ICE, ADVENTURES IN THE POLAR REGIONS, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE.

CHAPTER ONE.

One day, many years ago, a brig cast off from her moorings, and sailed
from a British port for the Polar Seas. That brig never came back.

Many a hearty cheer was given, many a kind