282 
AT THE RUE-RADDIES. 
laid upon tlie lloor of the other boats; and we -went to 
work with the rue-raddies as in the olden time. It 
was not till the third toilsome day Avas Avell spent that 
Ave reached the berg Avhich had beAvildered our helms¬ 
man. We hauled over its tongue, and joyously em¬ 
barked again upon a free lead, Avith a fine breeze from 
the north. 
Our little squadron Avas iioav, reduced to two boats. 
The land to the northAvard Avas no longer visible; and 
Avhenever I left the margin of the fast to avoid its 
deep sinuosities, I Avas obliged to trust entirely to the 
compass. We had at least eight days’ alloAvance of 
fuel on board; but our provisions were running very 
Ioav, and Ave met feAV birds, and failed to secure any 
larger game. We saAV several large seals upon the ice, 
but they were too Avatcliful for us; and on two occa¬ 
sions Ave came upon the Avalrus sleeping,—once Avithin 
actual lance-thrust; but the animal charged in the 
teeth of his assailant and made good his retreat. 
On the 28th I instituted a quiet rcvieAV of the state 
of things before us. Our draft on the stores Ave had 
laid in at Providence Halt had been limited for some 
days to three raAV eggs and tAvo breasts of birds a day; 
but avc had a small ration of bread-dust besides; and 
Avhen Ave halted, as Ave did regularly for meals, our 
fuel alloAved us'to indulge lavishly in the great panacea 
of Arctic travel, tea. The men’s strength Avas waning 
under this restricted diet; but a careful reckoning up 
•of our remaining supplies pro\ T ed to me noAV that even 
this was more than Ave could alford ourselves Avithout 
