NINE MONTHS IN THE ARCTIC. 109 



There was a singular solitariness pervading all 

 our minds, such as we never felt before. We 

 were now painfully sensible that the ice, snow, 

 and cold, peculiar to this region of the north, 

 such as we never witnessed before, would ere 

 long form around us an impassable barrier, fright- 

 ful even to contemplate, and through which there 

 would be to us no present egress. 



What remained of provisions still at the wreck, 

 and other articles which may have washed ashore, 

 reason and the instinct of self-preservation taught 

 us, it was our duty at once to secure. Accord- 

 ingly, the day following, the whole company were 

 again assembled, and went to the wreck. We 

 made a division of the provisions, especially of 

 bread, between the different parties occupying 

 different huts, and each party transported its 

 respective share to the settlement. The natives 

 were present with the crew during the day, and 

 ever ready to appropriate to their own benefit 

 whatever they saw fit to take, or were disposed 

 to lay hold of. 



There were several casks of molasses which 

 came ashore ; and since these could not be very 

 well divided at the wreck, it was resolved to con- 

 struct a species of sled, upon which a whole cask 

 could be drawn to the settlement at one time. 

 This we did, though it required many tedious 



