no LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES. [VIII. 



a regular riot all over the ship. The yards were suddenly 

 manned with red devils, black monkeys, and every kind of 

 grotesque monster, while the whole ship's company, officers 

 and men promiscuously mingled, danced the cancan upon 

 deck. In order that the warmth of the day should not 

 make us forget that we had arrived in his dominions, the 

 Arctic father had stationed certain of his familiars in the 

 tops, who at stated intervals flung down showers of hard 

 peas, as typical of hail, while the powdering of each other's 

 faces with handfuls of flour could not fail to remind every- 

 body on board that we had reached the latitude of snow. 

 At the commencement of this noisy festival I found myself 

 standing on the hurricane deck, next to one of the grave 

 savants attached to the expedition, who seemed to contem- 

 plate the antics that were being played at his feet with that 

 sad smile of indulgence with which Wisdom sometimes 

 deigns to commiserate the gaiety of Folly. Suddenly he 

 disappeared from beside me, and the next that I saw or 

 heard of him — he was hard at work pirouetting on the deck 

 below with a red-tailed demon, and exhibiting in his steps 

 a " verve " and a graceful audacity which at Paris would 

 have certainly obtained for him the honours of expulsion at 

 the hands of the municipal authorities. The entertainment 

 of the day concluded with a discourse delivered out of a 

 wind-sail by the chaplain attached to the person of the Pere 

 Arctique, which was afterwards washed down by a cauldron 

 full of grog, served out in bumpers to the several actors in 

 this unwonted ceremonial. As the Prince had been good 

 enough to invite us to dinner, instead of returning to the 

 schooner I spent the intermediate hour in pacing the quarter- 

 deck with Baron de la Ronciere, — the naval commander 

 entrusted with the charge of the expedition. Like all the 

 smartest officers in the French navy, he speaks English 

 beautifully, and I shall ever remember with gratitude the 

 cordiality with which he welcomed me on board his ship, 

 and the thoughtful consideration of his arrangements for the 

 little schooner which he had taken in tow. At five o'clock 



