198 



ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



In musquito time they were serviceable, but now they had become 

 quite an evil, owing to the masses of ice that clung to them. In- 

 deed, on the previous night I had to lose a portion of my whis- 

 kers. They had become so ice-locked that I could not well get 

 my reindeer jacket off over my head, therefore I used my knife, 

 and cut longer attachments to them. 



I may here mention that, after this, when we vacated the snow- 

 house, our dogs rushed in to devour whatever they could find, 

 digestible or not digestible, and my locks were a portion of what 

 they seized. In went my discarded hair to fill up their empty 

 stomachs ! A few days later, I saw the very same hirsute mate- 

 rial, just as clipped from my head, lining a step leading to another 

 igloo, having passed through the labyrinthian way from a dog's 

 mouth onward. 



About 4 P.M. Ebierbing ventured outside to see how matters 

 looked, but he soon returned with the astounding news that the 



ice was breaking, and water had appeared not more than ten rods 

 south of us! I looked, and, to my dismay, found that a crack or 



STORM-BOUND — ENCAMPMENT ON THE FLOE IN DAVIS'S STEAITS, JANUARY llTH AND I2TH, 1861. 



opening extended east and west to the land, distant about three 

 miles ! The gale had evidently set the sea in heavy motion some- 



