210 AN ARCTIC BALL. 



swallowed a fox which Jensen brought in from one of 

 his traps, and which he had turned over to the boy to 

 skin. Out on the ice I found a boisterous group en- 

 gaged around two large tin kettles. They were stir- 

 ring something with wooden sticks, and I found that, 

 at 34° below zero, they were making " water ice " and 

 " Roman punch " by wholesale. They needed no 

 chemical compounds for their " freezer." 



At six o'clock I joined the officers at dinner. Our 

 glass and crockery has, in some mysterious manner 

 known only to the steward, been disappearing from 

 the time of leaving Boston, but there is plenty of tin 

 ware to supply the deficiency, and each cup contained 

 a boquet of flowers, cut from tissue-paper, and a mam- 

 moth centre-piece of the same materials stood under 

 the glittering chandelier. The dinner was much en- 

 joyed by everybody, and if we lacked the orthodox 

 turkey, the haunch was not a bad substitute. 



I remained until nine o'clock, and left the party to 

 a merry evening. The hour for extinguishing the 

 lights was put off at discretion ; and, having myself 

 granted this privilege, I cannot, of course, say that 

 any of the proprieties of discipline or of ship-board 

 life were interfered ^vith. Rejoiced to see that the 

 people had the spirit to be merry at all, I was only 

 too glad to encourage them in it. Every part of the 

 " Festival," as they facetiously call it, was conducted 

 in a very orderly manner. The " ball " came off as 

 promised, and when I went up, about midnight, to 

 have a look at the merrymakers, I found Knorr, 

 wrapped in furs, seated upon a keg, fiddling away in 

 a very energetic manner, while Barnum and McDo- 

 nald were going through a sailor's hornpipe with im« 

 mense eclat ; then Carl swung the steward round in 



