IN A SNOW BANK. 303 



cover, and went behind the snow wall to help the 

 cooks w^ith their fire. 



The poor dogs were almost buried out of sight. 

 They had all crouched together in a heap ; and as the 

 drift accumulated over them they poked their heads 

 further and further up into it ; and when I came to 

 count them to see if any had left us and run back to 

 the ship or been frozen to death, it was truly count- 

 ing noses. There were fourteen of them. 



It seems rather strange to be writing; on at this rate 

 in a snow-hut, but the truth is I have no more trouble 

 in writing here than if I were in my cabin. The tem- 

 perature has come up almost to the freezing point, 

 and it is a great relief to write. What else should I 

 do ? I have two small books which I have brouo;ht 

 along for just such emergencies as this, and while 

 my companions play cards and bet gingerbread and 

 oyster suppers and bottles of rum to be paid in Bos- 

 ton, I find nothing better to do than read and write ; 

 and, since I cannot remain unoccupied, but must kill 

 time in some manner, or else sleep, suppose I describe 

 this den in the snow-bank. 



It is a pit eighteen feet long by eight wide and 

 four deep. Over the top of said pit are placed the 

 boat-oars, to support the sledge, which is laid across 

 them ; and over the sledge is thrown the boat's sail ; 

 and over the sail is thrown loose snow. In one end 

 of the den thus formed there is a hole, throuo-h which 

 we crawl in, and which is now filled up tightly with 

 blocks of snow. Over the floor (if the term is admis- 

 sible) there is spread a strip of India-rubber cloth; 

 over this cloth a strip of buffalo-skins, which are all 

 squared and sewed together ; and over this again 

 another just like it. When we want to sleep we 



