WINTER QUARTERS 



109 



On the i5th we were for the first time able to walk ashore, 

 and Douglamana came down to the ship over the ice. 



The land was everywhere covered with snow, and we had a 

 rather heavy drift whenever it blew; the sound was frozen 



MR. LEFFINGWELL STARTS FOR HERSCHEL ISLAND. 



across, and upon the whole we might safely say that winter 

 had commenced in good earnest ! 



At any rate the weather looked and felt wintry enough. We 

 were down to 15 C. on October 16; the wind was blow- 

 ing constantly, sending up clouds of snow, piling it up in drifts, 

 and driving it into every little hole. Overhead the clouds were 

 hanging low, and adding their contributions to the snowdrift, 

 and the canvas used for housing on board the ship was 

 covered with a heavy coat of ice. The dogs, which w r ere now 

 at liberty, were crowding together underneath the awning in 

 order to be out of the snowdrift and the icy wind. 



On October 17, a month after we arrived in winter quarters, 

 the ice had become so firm that Mr. Leffingwell, with Storker- 

 sen as his companion, started out for Herschel Island. Dr. 

 Howe, with Thuesen, was to accompany Mr. Leffingwell as far 

 as Barter Island, to deposit some provisions and to bring back 

 the meat we left when out hunting cariboo with Uxra. 



