The poor Esquimaux were battened down
in the hold all this time, and thirty wild
dogs running the decks. This was the
heaviest gale we have encountered, and
came within an ace of tripping the schooner
many times. One sea swept even-thing off
the decks and one the house, but we only
lost four dogs. So much, briefly, for the
passage. My companion and I lived in a
snow hut eight months on a small island.
No light but a tin box with an oil burner in
it, and burning seal oil. Our allowance of
fuel gave out two months Ufore the cold
weather did. Our greatest cold was in Jan
uary. It was fifty-two degrees, or eighty
two dcgreeslielow freezing point. The mer
cury exposed in a dish froze solid, so as to
lie handled like a chip, at forty-two decrees.
The heaviest snow fell on June 5th, iHhand
7th, and I walked ashore on the ice on the
14th of July. On the last day of April I
undertook a long journey with some Esqui
maux w ith dog teams, and while sleeping
alongside of the shed, thirty-five miles from
land, with a forty mile north wind blowing
and a temperature of forty-one degrees, 1
either froze or caught cold in the first finger
of my left hand, which left me a crippled
hand" until tiieend of July, and 1 now have
a much deformed and nearly useless finger.
I froze my nose times without nunilier, even
after I made a thick covering of some heavy
cloth your mother gave me for the purpose.
