SHORT COMMONS. 
267 
nearly all our wood to repair her; bit by bit we had 
already cut up and burned the runners and cross-bars 
of two sledges; the third we had to reserve as essential 
to our ice-crossings. 
In the mean time, the birds, which had been so 
abundant when we left Dalrymple’s Island, and which 
we had counted on for a continuous store, seemed to 
have been driven off by the storm. We were again 
reduced to short daily rations of bread-dust, and I was 
aware that the change of diet could not fail to tell upon 
the strength and energies of the party. I determined 
to keep in-shore, in spite of the barricades of ice, in 
the hope of renewing, to some extent at least, our sup¬ 
plies of game. We were fifty-two hours in forcing this 
ragged passage: a most painful labor, which but for 
the disciplined endurance of the men might well have 
been deemed impracticable. 
s t A L HOLE. 
