412 FARTHEST NORTH 



After a week's work the walls of our hut were fin- 

 ished. They were not high, scarcely 3 feet above the 

 ground ; but we had duo- down the same distance into 

 the ground, so we reckoned that it would be high enough 

 to stand up in. Now the thing was to get it roofed, 

 but this was not so easy. The only materials we had 

 towards it were, as before mentioned, the log we had 

 found and the walrus hides. The log, which was quite 

 12 inches across, Johansen at last, after a day's work, 

 succeeded in cutting in two with our little axe, and witji 

 no less labor we rolled it up over the talus and on 

 to the level, and it was laid on the roof as the ridge- 

 piece. Then there were the hides ; but they were 

 stiff and frozen fast to the meat' and blubber heaps 

 which they covered. Witli much difficulty we at length 

 loosened them by using wedges of walrus tusks, stone, 

 and wood. To transport these great skins over the 

 long distance to our hut was a no less difficult matter. 

 However, by rolling them, carrying them, and dragging 

 them we accomplished this too ; but to get the frozen 

 skins stretched over the hut was the worst of all. We 

 got on pretty well with three half-skins, just managing 

 to bend them a little; but the fourth half was frozen 

 quite stiff, and we had to find a hole in the ice, and sink 

 it in the sea, to thaw it. 



It was almost a cause for anxietv, I thouQ-ht, that all 

 this time we saw nothing of any bears. They were 

 what we had to live upon all through the winter, and the 



