40 UNCERTAINTY OF THE PmSTJIT. 



a boat ought never to leave the ship's side 

 without — or even to hang on the davits 

 without — the whole of the other foregoing 

 articles being inside of her ; because, if a boat 

 leaves the ship, even if only to kill a seal a 

 quarter of a mile off, you never can be certain 

 that you will not be ten or twenty days absent, 

 nay, you never can be certain that you will 

 ever see the ship again ! You get led on and 

 on insensibly, in the excitement of the chase, 

 from one seal or one troop of walruses to 

 another, and the awful dense fogs or sudden 

 gales of these regions may come on and pre- 

 vent your finding your way back. 



In addition to all these absolute necessaries 

 we always had one luxury, consisting of a bag 

 of mackintosh cloth lined with fur, and about 

 seven feet by four, rolled into a tight bundle 

 and strapped under the after thwart of each 

 boat. This was to crawl into in case of being 

 long out in severe weather, and although we 

 very seldom had occasion to make use of 

 them, still the sense of comfort and security 

 they gave one was very great ; because I con- 

 sider that they made one quite able to defy 

 any cold that can occur, even in the Arctic 

 regions, in summer. As for provisions, I 



