432 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 



he lost his way. It was in January, and the weather 

 was bitterly cold ; the poor fellow began to fancy him- 

 self frozen to death, and lost his wits entirely. While 

 in this state, Sergeant Woon met him, and offered to 

 lead him to the ship. The negro, beside himself with 

 terror, could not be made to understand anything, and 

 stood crying and shuddering till he fell down in a fit. 

 The sergeant waited till he was restored, and then 

 either carried him on his back or rolled him down hills 

 and hummocks for ten long hours, till he got him within 

 a mile of the ship. But the sergeant was by this time 

 exhausted. He exerted all his powers of eloquence 

 upon the negro to induce him to walk. The poor creat- 

 ure only begged to be " let alone to die." Finding all 

 his arguments unavailing, the sergeant laid him in a 

 bed of deep snow, and, with all his remaining strength, 

 ran alone to the ship. He procured assistance directly, 

 and, returning to the place where he had left the negro, 

 found him with his arms stiff and raised above his head, 

 his eyes open, and his mouth so firmly frozen that it 

 required great force to open it to pour down restora- 

 tives. He was alive, however, and eventually recov- 

 ered, though his hands, feet, and face, were much frost- 

 bitten. This case, and a similar one already related, 

 illustrate, in a striking manner, not only the effect of 

 intense cold on the body and mind, but also how much 

 the safety of the former depends on the exercise of the 

 latter. 



On the 5th of February the sun was seen above the 

 horizon, and the sportsmen became more successful, 

 scarcely a day passing without a deer or hare being 

 shot ; and keen must have been the hunger of those 

 sportsmen, for more than one of them, when, after a 

 long and weary walk, he shot a deer or hare, refreshed 

 himself with a draught of the animal's hot blood, or by 



