CHAPTER XLI. 



FURTHER EXPERIENCES OF DR. HAYES. • 



The adventures on the sea, in frail boats, were not the last of the troubles 

 of Dr. Hayes and his men. Though near an Eskimo settlement, they found 

 themselves almost without food. The Eskimos themselves were hungry. 

 But a winter was at hand, and they must live. They started the building of 

 a hut, to be their headquarters while they scoured the country for game. 



One of the party hunted every day, "yet he always came home empty- 

 handed, except on one occasion, when he brought in five ptarmigans, all of 

 which he shot within a hundred yards of the camp on his return. There 

 were several cracks in the ice not far from the shore, which were kept open 

 by the changing tide; and in these cracks were frequently seen walrus and 

 seal, but they were too timid to be approached. Petersen fired at them several 

 times, but they were always beyond his range. Along the shore, to the' south 

 of our position, he built several fox-traps, which he visited daily ; but hitherto 

 no foxes had been caught. 



"All this was discouraging. It seemed ominous of starvation at a very 

 early day. Our provisions were running very low ; we had only a few pounds 

 of pork left, and of bread only a small quantity beside that in the barrel 

 brought from the Life-boat depot, of which a small portion had been con- 

 sumed. There remained a little of the meat-biscuit and a few pounds of rice 

 and flour. Altogether we had not enough to furnish us with full rations 

 during a single week, and we were trying to make our stock suffice for a 

 longer period. Already we were upon the shortest daily allowance which 

 our labors permitted. Men working during twelve or fourteen hours of the 

 twenty-four, in a temperature not much above zero, require a large amount 

 of food to sustain them. We were becoming thin and weak, and were con- 

 stantly hungry. 



"To appease the gnawing pains of hunger by at least filling up the stomach, 

 we resorted to an expedient which I remembered of Sir John Franklin's, in 

 his memorable expedition to the Copper-mine, in 1819. This was, to eat 



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