FROSTBITTEN FEET. 



483 



" Captain — Sir : ' Shorty' (Ooksin) got one small deer to-day, 

 and I send this to you for yourself, and hope that soon we may 

 have the luck to send you more. They see quite a number of 

 deer every day, but half the time their guns will not go. I hope 

 that you are well, for I know that your mind is troubled, as I 

 have heard that all of the men have come back to the ship. I 

 saw three deer yesterday on the ice. We are quite hard up here 

 now, for all the ' black skin' is gone, and I have only about ten 

 pounds of whale-meat left ; but I shall not come to the ship, for 

 I might as well die here as there, for all I know. E. Lamb." 



The above note presents in a truthful light the experiences of 

 some of the ship's company. 



On the night of the 12th of January, at ten o'clock, the ther- 

 mometer down to 72° below the freezing point, Fluker was brought 

 to the ship by the Innuit Sharkey with a sledge drawn by dogs. 

 Fluker soon reported that he had frozen his great toe while going 

 up to Jones's Cape, and that he thought it best to come back and 

 have the black thing attended to. He went forward with such a 

 light and springing step that it seemed impossible that his toe 

 could have been badly frozen. Soon after, he came down into 

 the after-cabin, and sat by the stove warming himself, and eating 

 heartily. While taking his supper, he told us of the experiences 

 of Sterry and himself. They left the ship, as was above stated, 

 on January 4th, and were five days in getting to Jones's Cape. 

 There they found abundant food, but he discovered that his toe 

 was black, and he thought it best to return. 



Captain B caused a poultice to be prepared, and then di- 

 rected Fluker to pull off his boot ; the poor fellow made several 

 ineffectual efforts to do so, when the captain said, " Hold on, Flu- 

 ker; let me pull for you." With considerable difficulty the boot 

 and double stockings were taken off, when Captain B sud- 

 denly exclaimed, "Fluker, your foot is frozen noiv as hard as ice!" 

 In a moment the other foot was stripped of its gear, and that also 

 was found to be frozen stiff. " Away, away with him from this fire! 

 What are we thinking about ! Ice- water and salt ! I fear this 

 man's feet are gone!" Such were the hurried exclamations of 

 the captain, and all hands were at once engaged in endeavors to 

 thaw and preserve the feet of the unfortunate Fluker. The se- 

 quel may be given in a word : on the 17th Captain B was 



obliged to amputate all the poor man's toes, performing the op- 



