140 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



vanished out of sight. It was towards the end of August, and they had no hope 

 of rescue at this advanced period of the year. 



Their despair may be imagined, but they soon recovered their courage, and 

 wisely determined to make preparations for the impending winter, instead of 

 iosing time in useless lamentations. Their first care was to lay in a stock of 

 food, and in a short time they had killed nineteen reindeer and four bears. 

 Fortunately they found in Bell Sound tlie necessary materials for the erection 

 of a hut. A large shed fifty feet long and thirty-eight broad had been built 

 as a workshop for the men of the Russia Company, and they very judiciously 

 constructed their small hut of stones and thick planks within this inclosed 

 space. They thus gained a better protection against the icy wind and room 

 for exercise during stormy Aveather, one of the best preservatives against the 

 scurvy. They made their beds and winter dresses of the skins of the animals 

 they had killed, sewing them together with needles made of bone splinters, and 

 using disentangled rope-ends as-tliread. 



Their hut was ready by September 12, and to j^reserve their supply of meat 

 as long as possible, they lived four days of tlie week on the offal of whales' fat 

 which lay scattered about in great plenty. From October 26 to February 15 

 they saw no sun, and from the 13th to the 31st of December no twilight. The 

 new year began with excessive cold : every piece of metal they touched stuck 

 to their fingers like glue, and their skin became blistered when exposed to the 

 air. The re-appearance of the sun was as a resurrection from death. To in- 

 crease their joy, they saw two bears on the ice, one of which they killed, but 

 they found, what has since been frequently experienced by others, that the 



ARCTIC FOX. 



