CHAPTER XXIV. 
The region, which ten days before was teeming 
with animal life, was now almost deserted. We saw 
but one narwhal and a few seal. The Ivory gull too, 
a solitary traveler, occasionally flitted by us ; but the 
season had evidently wrought its change. 
Several fl.ocks of the snow bunting had passed over 
us while we were attached to the main ice off Grif- 
fith's Island, and a single raven was seen from the 
Rescue at her holding grounds. The Brent geese, how- 
ever, the dovekies, the divers, indeed all the anatidEe, 
the white whales, the walrus, the bearded and the hir- 
sute seal, the white bear, whatever gave us life and 
incident, had vanished. 
The following Sunday, the 15th, was signalized by 
the introduction of a bright new " Cornelius" lard lamp 
into the cabin, a luxury which I had often urged be- 
fore, but which the difficulties of opening the hold had 
compelled the captain to deny us. The condensation 
of moisture had been excessive ; the beams had been 
sweating great drops, and my bedding and bunk-boards 
bore the look of having been exposed to a drizzling 
mist. The temperature had been below the freezing 
point for a week before. The lamp gave us the very 
comfortable warmth of 44°, twelve degrees above con- 
gelation. It was a luxury such as few but Arctic 
travelers can apprehend. 
For some days after this, an obscurity of fog and 
snow made it impossible to see more than a few hund- 
red yards from the ship. This little area remained 
