198 THE VOYAGE OF THE JE ANNETTE. 



the ice and its melting by the heat of the Baxter boiler, 

 and also from the moisture created while the distilling 

 is going on, and the berth deck is damp to a slight de- 

 gree on the beams and ship's side in the wake of the 

 forward and after berths, as described in my remarks 

 of last Sunday. Felt and canvas have been used freely 

 during the week to try to stop this dampness, but it 

 still exists, and I do not think any means would be 

 effectual short of building a house over all the deck, 

 chock forward to the bows. To be sure we are troubled 

 with dampness to the same extent as previous expedi- 

 tions, but then we have not had as yet such extremely 

 low temperatures. We are able to keep all the slop of 

 washing clothes and persons clear of the living deck 

 by having all that done in the deck-house ; and as the 

 men do not enter the berth deck directly from the 

 open air, we have no cold air rushing in and being 

 spread around. As all work is done in this deck-house, 

 and the men's fur clothing and knapsacks are kept 

 there, there is no room occupied on the berth deck 

 save for eating and sleeping purposes ; and as the car- 

 bonic acid estimates are not now extremely bad, we 

 can put down the slight drip as the only objectionable 

 feature as yet to our winter experience, so far as gen- 

 eral health and comfort are concerned. 



If life within the Arctic circle were perfect comfort, 

 everybody would be coming here- We must be thank- 

 ful that our discomforts are no greater. Everybody is 

 in good health and in good spirits. There are individ- 

 ual cases of feeling the time hang heavily, and of be- 

 ing mentally " out of sorts ; " but this arises, I fancy, 

 from the non - realization of an impossible scheme of 

 Arctic cruising and life rather than from any effect on 

 the general health. Excepting Mr. Dunbar and Ninde- 



