100 MUD VERSUS STONE. \_Altffltst, 



commonplace. In these tents you sleep as soundly as 

 you can fancy, under the temperature, unless the whis- 

 pers of " bear," or the ominous snuffling of that animal, 

 should induce you to ask, "Who is cook?" As this 

 personage, although permitted to sleep at his post, is the 

 sentinel par excellence, he of course has the place next 

 the door, and, if not very sound asleep, is aroused, and 

 betakes himself to reconnoitre ; the result may appear in 

 another act. 



In the morning we ascended our hill, eighty feet above 

 the sea, to look for our party, and to construct one of 

 those cairns so emphatically recommended in my instruc- 

 tions. These structures are supposed to be of stone ; but 

 as the ground here was fine gravel, and frozen hard, 

 enough could not be amassed to support our flagstaff. 

 Necessity, however, effects wonders at least for tem- 

 porary purposes ; failing in stones and gravel, we had 

 recourse to a peaty moss, found in a kind of morass at 

 the back of the summit. The foundation having com- 

 menced with this, the men soon found that the peat mud 

 was warmer than the air, and froze as they used it. 

 Sailors have their ideas of enjoyment ; and as this proved 

 a novelty, a new mode of building was immediately 

 adopted, and between peat, with black mud for cement, 

 aided by a sharp frost, a very fine black pyramid arose, 

 quite as solid, so long as frost continued, as any con- 

 structed of stone. It was strange, however, that the 

 pond of black mud did not freeze nor lose its tempera- 

 ture during the period we remained at work ; our men 

 seemed to enjoy the warm mud, washing their hands in 

 it before retiring, and I have little doubt that, with the 



