UNDER THE MIDNKiHT SUN. 319 



pleased to swell up again so much and so quickly that 

 I yielded the point and did not use my bureau again. 

 After a hard fight to-day I got the bureau to move. So 

 much ice had formed between its end and the forward 

 bulkhead and its back and the bulwark that it was 

 frozen as one solid mass. I do not think I exaggerate 

 a bit when I say that over sixty pounds of ice were re- 

 moved. I took out one slab which weighed about 

 twenty-five pounds ; and there were in addition two 

 buckets full of small lumps and scraps picked up with 

 a shovel. The paint work of my room, which had be- 

 come a fine specimen of black color, was cleaned par- 

 tially by the steward, and the contrast of clean white 

 to beautifully dirty black is so glaring as to be almost 

 painful to my eyes. The frost in the lower drawer of 

 my bureau had taken full charge, making it necessary 

 for me to work with a hammer and break the ice be- 

 fore I could get a pair of pantaloons out. However, I 

 have suffered no inconvenience during the winter, and 

 by a little work now I have anticipated a thaw. 



The walrus meat and the sucking mother bear, con- 

 demned for dog food, were some time since removed to 

 the floe from the house-top, and piled up alongside of 

 a whole walrus now lying there. This food is con- 

 stantly watched by the dogs, who change parties but 

 never relax in vigilance, lest by some mishap the dead 

 animals might get up and walk away. It took them 

 some little time to get accustomed to the order forbid- 

 ding them to come on board ship at all, since mild 

 weather has set in, and we have cleaned up our quarter- 

 deck ; and they would line the gang-plank regularly 

 every evening, like chickens waiting to go to roost. 

 Since they have been feeding on walrus and bear meat 

 they have grown as fat as dumplings, and as lazy as 



