428 FARTHEST NORTH 



one corner of tlie hut we made a little hearth to boil and 

 roast upon. In the roof above we cut a round hole in 

 the walrus hide, and niade a smoke -board up to it of 

 bearskin. We had not used this hearth long before we 

 saw the necessity of building a chimney to prevent the 

 wind from beating down, and so filling the hut with 

 smoke as to make it sometimes intolerable. The only 

 materials we had for building this were ice and snow; 

 but with these we erected a grand chimney on the roof, 

 which served its purpose, and made a good draught. It 

 was not quite permanent, however; the hole in it con- 

 stantly widened with use, and it was not altogether guilt- 

 less of sometimes dripping down on to the hearth ; but 

 there was abundance of this building material, and it was 

 not difficult to renew the chimnev when it was in need 

 of repair. This had to be done two or three times dur- 

 ing the course of the winter. On more exposed spots we 

 employed walrus flesh, bone, and such -like materials to 

 strengthen it. 



Our cookery was as simple as possible. It consisted 

 in boiling bear's iiesh and soup (bouillon) in the morn- 

 ing and frying steak in the evening. We consumed 

 large quantities at every meal, and, strange to say, we 

 never grew tired of this food, but always ate it with a 

 ravenous appetite. We sometimes either ate blubber 

 with it or dipped the pieces of meat in a little oil. A 

 long time might often pass when we ate almost nothing 

 but meat, and scarcely tasted fat; but when one of us 



