622 AN OOGJOOK SUPPLIES MEAT AND OIL. 



to the hungry pursuers. They succeeded, however, in 

 shooting a number of dovekies, which, with a few they 

 had been saving for some days, made enough for one fair 

 meal, and nearly enough for a second. The dovekies are 

 a small bird, little prized for eating when men have the 

 privilege of choosing, but, under the circumstances, our 

 friends of the ice-raft were thankful even for them. The 

 allowance was two per man (or woman), and weie quite 

 palatable boiled in the soup which was the usual lare in 

 the ice-raft hotel. The following Sunday, March 2d, the 

 entire party were made happy by Joe, who had the good 

 fortune to shoot what Herron styles an " oogjook," prob- 

 ably a species of seal ; but whatever it v, as, it was so large 

 that it required the combined strength of all the men to 

 get him " home." Besides the oogjook, they secured forty- 

 two dovekies. John says that they now had " plenty of 

 meat and oil ;" and as we have seen, the latter was an im- 

 portant article to our ice-navigators. He adds : " That 

 was a good Sunday's work dragging the fine fellow to 

 the hut, and thanking God for his mercies. All well and 

 happy." On the 5th a violent gale from the northwest, 

 with a heavy snow-drift, kept all but Joe within the hut ; 

 Joe could not be kept in. Herron says of Joe : " He is a 

 first-rate fellow. We should have been dead men long 

 since, had it not been for him." The thermometer got down 

 to 30 below zero. On the 6th the entire party were quite 

 sick with headache and general derangement of their 

 stomachs, caused by eating the liver of the " oogjook ;" 

 possibly in their half-starved condition they had eaten too 

 much. Herron's note on the 7th shows that the gale had 

 abated, but a stiff breeze still kept the snow drifting. .He 

 says : " There are immense icebergs all around our floe. 

 There was a fearful noise all last night, which kept us 

 awake; the floe was cracking, splitting and working in 

 the most fearful manner, just like a park of artillery and 

 musketry ; I expected every moment to see it split into a 



