364 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. X. 



our hands ; and the peculiar occupations of each of the offi- 

 cers afforded them more employment than might at first be 

 supposed. I re-calculated the observations made on our 

 route ; Mr. Hood protracted the charts, and made those 

 drawings of birds, plants, and fishes, which cannot appear 

 in this work, but which have been the admiration of every 

 one who has seen them. Each of the party sedulously and 

 separately recorded their observations on the aurora, and 

 Dr. Richardson contrived to obtain from under the snow 

 specimens of most of the lichens in the neighbourhood, and 

 to make himself acquainted with the mineralogy of the 

 surrounding country. 



" The Sabbath was always a day of rest with us ; the 

 woodmen were required to provide for the exigencies of that 

 day on Saturday, and the party were dressed in their best 

 attire. Divine service was regularly performed, and the 

 Canadians attended, and behaved with great decorum, al- 

 though they were all Roman Catholics, and but little ac- 

 quainted with the language in which the prayers were read. 

 I regretted much that we had not a French Prayer-Book, 

 but the Lord's Prayer and Creed were always read to them 

 in their own language. 



" Our diet consisted almost entirely* of reindeer meat, 

 varied twice a week by fish, and occasionally by a little 

 flour, but we had no vegetables of any description. On the 

 Sunday mornings we drank a cup of chocolate ; but our 

 greatest luxury was tea (without sugar), of which we regu- 

 larly partook twice a-day. With reindeer's fat and strips 

 of cotton shirts, we formed candles ; and Hepburn acquired 

 considerable skill in the manufacture of soap, from the wood- 

 ashes, fat, and salt. The formation of soap was considered 

 as rather a mysterious operation by our Canadians, and in 

 their hands was always supposed to fail if a woman ap- 

 proached the kettle in which the ley was boiling. Such are 

 our simple domestic details."— pp. 258, 259. 



