2G-2 



( Expedition of the Alert to 



them into a snow-drift twenty feet distant." In order to return, they 

 were obliged to crawl on their hands and knees. The station-houses, 

 of which the one at Port Burwell is a type, are frame dwellings, 

 strongly built, having two thicknesses of boarding and the interstices 

 tilled with felt and moss. The inner part of the roof is lined with 

 felt, and the same material is placed under the floor, while heavy can- 

 built, and the space between the walls and the house filled in so as to 

 prevent, as far as possible, the wind from getting underneath the 

 house and so overturning it. 



The house is divided into three rooms, one the general sitting-room, 

 kitchen and eating-room, one bedroom for the officer in charge and 

 one for his two men. A large cooking stove, in which hard coal is 

 burned, heats the building. Even with the low temperatures of winter, 

 the men had little difficulty in keeping the temperature in-doors up 

 to 65° and 70° Fahr. 



At these stations a plentiful supply of provisions, sufficient to last 

 two years, had been left. It consisted of salt beef, salt pork, canned 

 meats, evaporated fruits and vegetables, biscuits, flour, oatmeal, tea, 

 coffee, sugar, condiments, etc., and plenty of lime juice; a considerable 

 supply of tobacco was furnished, also a good and well-selected supply 

 of medicines, which included two bottles of brandy, which was all the 

 liquor permitted to be taken ashore. 



At all of the stations, where the instructions as regards care of 

 health, including those relating to diet, exercise and cheerful occupa- 

 tions, were followed, the health of the men was excellent. One man 

 died of scurvy, but the result was clearly his own fault. He refused 

 to drink lime juice, would not vary his diet nor take sufficient exer- 

 cise and, consequently, died of a disease which is considered pre- 

 ventable. 



On Wednesday, August 5, we left Port Burwell, en route for Ashe's 

 Inlet, on the north side of Hudson's Strait. We did not get entirely 

 clear from the ice until August 11. About five a. h., on the follow- 

 ing day, we arrived opposite Ashe's Inlet, and found the ice tightly 

 jammed along the shore, making a belt about ten miles wide. We 

 attempted to steam through it and all went Avell until about noon, 

 Avhen one blade of the propeller was broken off and we lay to in order 

 to fit on another. Fortunately, we had two spare fans for this pur- 



The following day opened dull, foggy, and disagreeable. About two 

 p. m. the fog lifted and the ice began to run abroad, We found that 



