LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
653 
was fixed, and the fire threw its enlivening blaze over their chilly 
habitation, then, with the sincerest thanks to Him, who fed Elijah 
in the desert, they prepared to make their evening meal, which 
consisted of dumplings and pea-soup, although, perhaps, not com¬ 
pounded exactly according to the recipes of Dr. Kitchener or 
Mrs. Glasse; after which, they turned into their blankets, and 
their rest was doubtless as sound as that of those, who were reposing 
on their beds of down, and under their canopies of costly silks. 
On the following morning, the wind came round, blowing tre¬ 
mendously hard, continuing with undiminished violence until the 
13th. During the interval of the 5th to the 13th, the men were 
employed in repairing the house, and building a snow wall round 
it, about nine feet thick. In the erection of this wall, however, 
considerable inconvenience was felt from the want of water, as 
they could not afford to waste their fuel in the melting of the 
snow; and, on the other hand, it was found impracticable to build 
the wall in a solid manner without water, which, being immedi¬ 
ately frozen on its application, served the purpose of mortar in 
the adhesion of the slabs of snow, and also closed up any inter¬ 
stices, which might be left, through which the exterior atmosphere 
could penetrate. In thisdilemma,they had no other alter native^ 
than to have recourse to their own urine, for the preservation of 
which, a cask was kept in the house, and with this liquid the wall 
was completed. 
The engineer was now set to work to build an oven for baking 
bread, there being an ample supply of flour amongst the Fury’s 
stores, and the stock of biscuit, which they brought from the Vic¬ 
tory being nearly exhausted. 
Preparations were now made for the equipment of a travelling 
party, for the purpose of bringing the things away, which had 
been left at the first station, about four miles from Batty Bay. 
Fourteen men were all, that could be spared from the crew, the 
remainder being disabled by illness, partly arising from the 
scurvy, and partly from the loss of the use of their limbs by the 
intensity of the frost. 
Although the men had weathered three winters, with the ther¬ 
mometer sometimes at 50° below zero, yet they unanimously de- 
