OP THE POL.VR SEA. 873 



supper. This weed, not having been soaked, 

 proved so bitter, that few of the party could eat 

 more than a fevir spoonfuls of it. 



Our blankets did not suffice this evening to 

 keep us in tolerable warmth ; the slightest breeze 

 seeming to pierce through our debilitated frames. 

 The reader will, probably, be desirous to know 

 how we passed our time in such a comfortless 

 situation: the first operation after encamping 

 was to thaw our frozen shoes, if a sufficient fire 

 could be made, and dry ones were put on ; each 

 person then wrote his notes of the daily occur- 

 rences, and evening prayers were read ; as soon 

 as supper was prepared it was eaten, generally in 

 the dark, and we went to bed, and kept up a 

 cheerful conversation until our blankets were 

 thawed by the heat of our bodies, and we had 

 gathered sufficient warmth to enable us to fall 

 asleep. On many nights we had not even 

 the luxury of going to bed in dry clothes, for 

 when the fire was insufficient to dry our shoes, 

 we durst not ventur^ to pull them off, lest they 

 should freeze so hard as to be unfit to put on 

 in the morning, and, therefore, inconvenient to 

 carry. 



On the 20th we got into a hilly country, and 

 the marching became much more laborious, even 

 Vol. ir. T 



