436 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 



ward for our relief, as, by the period that any vessel 

 could reach that port, we must, from want of provi- 

 sions, all have perished. In such a case, I would 

 submit that the officers may be directed to return, and 

 by no means incur the danger of losing other lives in 

 quest of those who will then be no more." 



The ship was banked up with snow and housed over 

 on the 18th of November, and every preparation made 

 for spending a third winter in this region of icy desola- 

 tion. The spirits of the crew, however, did riot flag. 

 Resort was again had to the hunting expeditions which 

 had occupied and cheered them so much in previous 

 years, and their larder was kept well stocked with pro- 

 visions. The wolves so harassed the deer, that the 

 latter poor creatures actually fled to the ship for pro- 

 tection. 



" The hares and ptarmigan," writes M'Clure, "have 

 descended from the high ground to the sea ridges, so 

 that a supply of game has been kept up during the win- 

 ter, which has enabled a fresh meal to be issued twice 

 weekly, and the usual Christmas festivities to pass off 

 with the greatest cheerfulness. As it was to be our 

 last, the crew were determined to make it memorable, 

 and their exertions were completely successful ; each 

 mess was gayly illuminated and decorated with original 

 paintings by our lower-deck artists, exhibiting the ship 

 in her perilous positions during the transit of the Polar 

 Sea, and divers other subjects ; but the grand features 

 of the day were the enormous plum-puddings (some 

 weighing twenty-six pounds), haunches of venison, 

 hares roasted, and soup made of the same, with ptar- 

 migan and sea pies. Such dainties in such profusion I 

 should imagine never before graced a ship's lower-deck ; 

 any stranger, to have witnessed this scene, could but 

 faintly imagine that he saw a crew which had passed 



