KATXJRE OF THE COAL. 
363 
the case when it was piled on the hla;5ing fire that kept 
us warm while digging it out; but, as soon as it was tried 
in our srnall-flue furnaces, its nature seemed to undergo 
an entire change. Instead of burning brightly, it smoked, 
and smothei'ed, and ran into clinker, and gave forth sul- 
phur in a most provoking and choking manner, the con- 
sequence of which was that it got up steam very slowly, 
kept it up very poorly, choked the flues with soot so as 
to force us to “haul fires” about every six hours to clear 
them, and accomplished generally a vast deal that was 
provoking to our tempers, injurious to the health of the 
firemen, and detrimental to the work of the Expedition. 
As far as our experience extended, therefore, we came 
to the conclusion that it would never be adapted to burn- 
ing in small-flue boilers, that it migJd answer well in fur- 
naces intended for burning soft coal, and that it un- 
doubtedly did burn well in the open air as an ordinary 
fire and in a blacksmith’s forge. And now for the ad- 
venture which several of us encountered so unexpectedly. 
We had been on shore, hunting all day, and the officer 
of the deck had sent a boat for us toward evening with 
orders to await our return and bring us on board. The 
firemen and boat’s crews, having worked at the coal as 
long as the tide would permit, had returned on board 
shortly after noon for the purpose of getting a few hours’ 
rest previous to the arrival of the next tide. Now, the 
coxswain of our boat, instead of keeping her at the end 
of the promontory, where there was always water enough 
to float her, had pulled in over the mud-flat and hauled 
her up on the beach about half-way between that point 
and the coal-mine, where he left her, and, with the rest 
¥ 
