THE MUSTER. 
181 
No one thought of the mockery of cheers: we had 
no festival-liquor to mislead our perception of the real 
state of things. When all hands were quite ready, we 
scrambled off over the ice together, much like a gang 
of stevedores going to work over a quayful of broken 
cargo. 
• On reaching the boats, the party were regularly 
mustered and divided between the two. A rigid in¬ 
spection was had of every article of personal equip¬ 
ment. Each man had a woollen underdress and an 
Esquimaux suit of fur clothing,—kapetah, nessak, and 
nannooke complete, with boots of our own make; that 
is to say, one pair of canvas faced with walrus-hide, 
and another inside made of the cabin Brussels carpet. 
In addition to this, each carried a rue-raddy adjusted 
to fit him comfortably, a pair of socks next his skin, 
and a pair of large goggles for snow-blindness, made 
Esquimaux-fashion by cutting a small slit in a piece 
of wood. Some of us had gutta percha masks fitting 
closely to the face, as large as an ordinary domino; 
but these were still less favorable to personal appear¬ 
ance than the goggles. The provision-bags and other 
stores were numbered, and each man and officer had 
his own bag and a place assigned for it, to prevent 
confusion in rapid stowing and unstowing. 
Excluding four sick men, who were unable to move, 
and myself, who had to drive the dog-team and serve 
as common carrier and courier, we numbered but twelve 
men,—which would have given six to a sledge, or too 
few to move it. It was therefore necessary to concen- 
