USAGES OF THE TABLE. 
385 
on raw meat cut from a large joint, which, lay, without 
regard to cleanliness, among the deposits on the floor 
of the igloe. Their mode of eating was ingeniously 
active. They cut the meat in long strips, introduced 
one end into the mouth, swallowed it as far as the 
powers of deglutition would allow, and then, cutting off 
the protruding portion close to the lips, prepared them¬ 
selves for a second mouthful. It was really a feat of 
address: those of us who tried it failed awkwardly ; 
and yet I have seen infants in the mother’s hood, not 
two years old, who managed to perform it without 
accident.” 
I pass over the story of the hunt that followed. It 
had nothing to distinguish it from many others, and 
I find in my journal of a few days later the fresh nar¬ 
rative of Morton, after he had seen one for the first 
time. 
My next extracts show the progress of our winter 
arrangements. 
“September 30, Saturday.—We have been clearing 
up on the ice. Our system for the winter has not the 
dignity of a year ago. We have no Butler Storehouse, 
no Medary, no Fern Rock, with their appliances. We 
are ten men in a casemate, with all our energies con¬ 
centrated against the enemy outside. 
“Our beef-house is now a pile of barrels holding our 
water-soaked beef and pork. Flour, beans, and dried 
apples make a quadrangular blockhouse on the floe: 
from one corner of it rises our flagstafl, lighting up the 
dusky gray with its red and white ensign, oidy on 
Vol. I.—2fi 
