pread over the deck from
stem to stern, so that it was confidently hoped the _Dolphin_ would
prove a snug tenement even in the severest cold.

As has been said before, the snow-drift almost buried the hull of the
ship, and as snow is a good _non-conductor_ of heat, this further helped
to keep up the temperature within. A staircase of snow was built up to
the bulwarks on the larboard quarter, and on the starboard side an
inclined plane of snow was sloped down to the ice to facilitate the
launching of the sledges when they had to be pulled on deck.

Such were the chief arrangements and preparations that were made by our
adventurers for spending the winter; but although we have described them
at this point in our story, many of them were not completed until a much
later period.

CHAPTER XI.

_A hunting-expedition, in the course of which the hunters meet with many
interesting, dangerous, peculiar, and remarkable experiences, and make
acquaintance with seals, walruses, deer, and rabbits_.

We must now return to Fred Ellice and his companions, Meetuck the
Esquimau, O'Riley, and Joseph West, whom we left while they were on the
point of starting on a hunting-expedition.

They took the direction of the ice-hummocks out to sea, and, seated
comfortably on a large sledge, were dragged by the team of dogs over the
ice at the rate of ten miles an hour.

"Well! did I iver expect to ride a carriage and six?" exclaimed O'Riley
in a state of great glee as the dogs dashed forward at full speed, while
Meetuck nourished his awful whip, making it crack like a pistol-shot
ever and anon.

The sledge on which they travelled was of the very curious and simple
construction peculiar to the Esquimaux, and was built by Peter Grim
under the direction of Meetuck. It consisted of two runners of about ten
feet in length, six inches high, two inches broad, and three feet apart.
They were made of tough hickory, slightly curved in front, and were
attached to each other by cross-bars. At the stern of the vehicle there
was a low back composed of two uprights and a single bar across. The
whole machine was fastened together by means of tough lashings of raw
seal-hide, so that, to all appearance, it was a rickety affair, ready to
fall to pieces. In reality, however, it was very strong. No metal nails
of any kind could have held in the keen frost--they would have snapped
like glass at the first jolt--but the sealskin fastenings yielded to the
rud