168 ECONOMY OF PROVISION. 



place in which they were able to take exercise 

 when the severity of the weather prevented their 

 stirring abroad ; and no doubt it is owing to this 

 fortunate occurrence, not only that the lives of 

 the party were preserved, but that none of them 

 were afflicted with that dreadful malady the 

 scurvy, which proved so fatal to other parties 

 who attempted to winter in the same island. 



Being now provided with a house, their next 

 care was to make beds and clothing for them- 

 selves ; for which purpose they dried the skins 

 of the deer and bears they had taken, and sewed 

 them together with bone needles, and thread 

 made from the yarn of rope. On the 12th of 

 September all their arrangements were finished. 

 On that day some ice drove into the bay, and 

 upon it two walruses which they succeeded in 

 taking, and added to their stock of provision. 

 This was a very acceptable addition, for they 

 found upon looking over their stock, that, with 

 the utmost economy, they would not have enough 

 to last them half through the winter, without 

 having recourse to the refuse of whale blubber, 

 after the oil had been extracted from it; upon 

 examination, also, it was found, that they would 

 have to subsist upon this loathsome food four 

 days in the week, and that upon the other three 

 they might feast upon venison and bears' flesh. 



