NINE MONTHS IN THE ARCTIC. 87 



natives, the hand of a good and merciful Provi- 

 dence can be easily discovered. What if, at this 

 time of our need, the natives had thrust us away 

 from their dwellings, and refused us shelter for 

 the night, or a protection from the storm ? or if 

 they had exhibited towards us the spirit of hos- 

 tility and war ? Augmented sufferings would 

 have been added to our otherwise unhappy lot. 

 There would have been no escape for us from 

 the arctic region. But we found friends when 

 we most needed them. 



We were distributed among the natives in the 

 following manner : four men and one officer were 

 to constitute a company ; and in this propor- 

 tion we occupied our respective huts, lived with 

 the families, and shared in their accommoda- 

 tions. 



Compared with the first settlement, where we 

 stopped for the first night in our travel, this one 

 was quite respectable, numbering twenty or 

 more huts. 



We had no intention of making this settle- 

 ment a permanent resting place for the winter, 

 if by any means we could find a more southern 

 locality. We cherished strong hope of being 

 able to reach East Cape, and thus being taken 

 off by some ship passing through the straits, be- 

 fore the approach of winter. Nor was there any 



