OF THE POLAR SEA. 321 



dence, and furnished him with a letter to the 

 gentleman in charge of it, requesting that imme- 

 diate supplies might be sent to us. 



On my arrival at the house, I found Samandr^ 

 very dispirited, and too weak, as he said, to 

 render any assistance to Peltier ; upon whom the 

 whole labour of getting wood and collecting the 

 means of subsistence would have devolved. Con- 

 scious, too, that his strength would have been 

 unequal to these tasks, they had determined 

 upon taking only one meal each day ; under these 

 circumstances I considered my return as particu- 

 larly fortunate, as I hoped to stimulate Samandr^ 

 to exertion, and at any rate I could contribute 

 some help to Pehier. I undertook the office of 

 cooking, and insisted they should eat twice a-day 

 whenever food could be procured ; but as I was 

 too weak to pound the bones, Peltier agreed to 

 do that in addition to his more fatiguing task of 

 getting wood. We had a violent snow storm all 

 the next day, and this gloomy weather contributed 

 to the depression of spirits under which Adam 

 and Samandre were labouring. Neither of them 

 would quit their beds, and they scarcely ceased 

 from shedding tears all day ; in vain did Peltier 

 and myself endeavour to cheer them. We had 

 even to use much entreaty before we prevailed 

 upon them to take the meals we had prepared. 

 VouAL ^' 



