OF THE POLAR SEA. 3S9 



some fire-steels, flints, awls, fish-hooks, rings, 

 linen, and the glass of an artificial horizon. My 

 two men began to recover a little as well as my- 

 self, though I was by far the weakest of the three ; 

 the soles of my feet were cracked all over, and 

 the other parts were as hard as horn, from con- 

 stant walking. I again urged the necessity of 

 advancing to join the Commander's party, but 

 they said they were not yet sufficiently strong. 



On the 27th we discovered the remains of a 

 doer, on which we feasted. The night was un- 

 usually cold, and ice formed in a pint-pot within 

 two feet of a fire. The coruscations of the Aurora 

 were beautifully brilliant; they served to shew 

 us eight wolves, which we had some trouble to 

 frighten away from our collection of deer's bones ; 

 and, with their howhng, and the constant crack- 

 ing of the ice, we did not get much rest. 



Having collected with great care, and by self- 

 denial, two small packets of dried meat or sinews, 

 sufficient (for men who knew what it was to fast) 

 to last for eight days at the rate of one indifferent 

 meal per day, we prepared to set out on the 30th. 

 I calculated that we should be about fourteen 

 days in reaching Fort Providence ; and, allowing 

 that we neither killed deer nor found Indians, we 

 could but be unprovided with food six days, and 

 this we heeded not whilst the prospect of obtain- 



