OF THE POLAR SEA. 333 



debilitated state. The alteration in our appear- 

 ance was equally distressing to them, for since 

 the swellings had subsided we were little more 

 than skin and bone. The Doctor particularly 

 remarked the sepulchral tone of our voices, which 

 he requested us to make more cheerful if possi- 

 ble, unconscious that his own partook of the same 

 key. 



Hepburn having shot a partridge, which was 

 brought to the house, the Doctor tore out the 

 feathers, and having held it to the fire a few 

 minutes, divided it into seven portions. Each 

 piece was ravenously devoured by my com- 

 panions, as it was the first morsel of flesh any of 

 us had tasted for thirty-one days, unless indeed 

 the small gristly particles which we found oc- 

 casionally adhering to the pounded bones may 

 be termed flesh. Our spirits were revived by 

 this small supply, and the Doctor endeavoured to 

 raise them still higher by the prospect of Hep- 

 burn s being able to kill a deer next day, as 

 they had seen, and even fired at, several near 

 the house. He endeavoured, too, to rouse us to 

 some attention to the comfort of our apartment, 

 and particularly to roll up, in the day, our 

 blankets, which (expressly for the convenience 

 of Adam and Samandre,) we had been in the 

 habit of leaving by the fire where we lay on 



