208 ADVENTURES IN THE NORTHERN SEAS. 



pilot explained that such were commonly used by 

 the Russians when they suffered from entomological 

 annoyances. 



The huts were all formed of logs dovetailed into 

 one another at the corners, and were tolerably en- 

 tire except the roofs, which had been flat and cov- 

 ered with earth, but had now mostly fallen in. 

 The principal one, about twenty-four feet square, 

 had been used both as sitting-room and dormitory; 

 off this was a small wing with a brick fire-place, 

 evidently used as a kitchen. Another hut was the 

 store-house, and a third — of all things in the world 

 — a Russian bath-house of a rude description, in 

 which I suppose they had enjoyed the national 

 luxury of parboiling themselves, and then rolling 

 in the snow at a temperature of — 50° or so. The 

 roof of the main hut had fallen in, and a little 

 glacier, about as large as a boat turned bottom up, 

 had formed in the middle of the floor. On a gen- 

 tle eminence, at a distance of two or three hundred 

 yards from the huts, they had built up a sort of 

 look-out house of loose stones, and here we may 

 conceive they passed alternately many weary hours 

 in watching the ice-laden sea before them. 



They may even have been tantalized by seeing 

 the topsails of vessels passing outside of the icy 

 barrier, but far beyond their reach. On a little 

 piece of level ground, not far from the huts, they 

 had kept themselves in exercise by playing at a 

 game resembling cricket, as was evident by the bats 



