OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 191 



" \Vhen the tent had been pitched an hour, and our party were all smokine '^■■^-• 



11 f -1 o 1 1 -March. 



to promote warmth, the temperature at our leet was 1 below sero, and 

 over head amongst the smoke + 7° ; in the outer air it wag — 5°, which 

 although of itself sufficiently cold was rendered doubly piercing by the 

 strength of the wind. John Lee was soon seized with a fit of shivering 

 and severe pains in the loins, to check which we put him into his blanket 

 and covered him with clothes which could ill be spared. A deep hole 

 being dug in the snow a fire was made with the greatest difficulty, and we 

 were made comfortable for a time by a warm mess of soup. I afterwarfis 

 found that it would be possible by extending our excavation to make a 

 cavern in which we might pass the night, for it would have been next to 

 impossible to continue in the tent. Some of the men were therefore set to 

 work, and had thus so good an opportunity of warming the mselves, that our 

 only shovel was lent from one to the other as a particular favour. At two P.^1. 

 the outer air was —15°, and zero was the temperature of the tent, when 

 Arnold's pocket chronometer stopped from the effects of the cold. By four 

 P.M. the cavern was finished and of sufficient size to contain us all in a 

 sitting posture. After taking some hot soup, Lee was removed to the 

 warmest place we could select and, making a fire, we managed by its smoke, 

 which had no vent, to raise the temperature to +20°, while outside it had 

 fallen to —25°. We now cleaned our clothes as well as possible from the 

 thick coating of snow-drift, and closing the entrance of the cave with 

 blocks of snow, we crept into our blanket bags, and huddled close to- 

 gether to endeavour to procure a little sleep. Our small dwelling had a 

 very close feel, which was perhaps not a little augmented by the reflection 

 that a spade alone could liberate us again after a night's drift of snow; and 

 our roof being two feet thick, and not of the most secure description, 

 there was no small probability of its breaking down on us, in which case, 

 confined as we were in our bags, and lying almost upon each other, we 

 should have but little chance of extricating ourselves. 



" At daylight on the 16th we found the temperature at +26° until we dug 

 out the entrance, when it fell to -(. 15°, while outside it was —25°. We again 

 lighted our fire and, after sitting two hours in such thick black smoke that 

 we could not see our feet, succeeded in making some tea, which answered 

 a double purpose, as it served to thaw some meat which was frozen in 

 the canisters. At nine A.M. the gale was unabated, and the drift as 



