216 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VII. 



two very powerful little ponies, procured at Kirk- 

 wall, the only two on the island, and which had 

 been sent from Shetland to an Orkney laird ; one 

 was forty inches, the other thirty-eight in height." 

 They also received a fat cow, and eight sheep, for 

 the crew. The poor cow, it seems, refused to 

 eat, and was therefore killed for present use ; but 

 the ponies proved better sailors, walked about the 

 ship as familiarly as large dogs, and improved in 

 their appearance daily. On examining the bags 

 of pemmican, to their great mortification it was 

 found that the fat had melted, and that the water- 

 proof caoutchouc was oozing in a clammy state 

 through the canvas. 



The worst of all was that the sluggish Griper 

 required to be towed by the Snap, till a strong 

 breeze and a heavy swell for two days' continuance 

 obliged the former to cast off; when she shipped so 

 many tremendous seas that it became necessary to 

 bring her to under storm- staysails, which was the 

 more mortifying on observing her companion to be 

 perfectly dry. In short, throughout the whole pas- 

 sage across the Atlantic the Griper was obliged to be 

 towed by the Snap every second or third day, with- 

 out which she could not have made any progress. 

 On the 3rd of August, however, the two ships 

 made the ice, consisting of bergs among the floes ; 

 when, according to the Instructions, they began 

 to remove the stores and provisions out of the 

 Snap, by which the decks of the Griper were com- 



