rews, and a winter routine entered upon, which those
curious in such matters may find fully detailed in Parry's "First
Voyage," or Ross's "Four Years in Boothia."

The building of snow-walls, posts, houses, &c., was at first a source
of amusement to the men, and gave them a great field in which to
exercise their skill and ingenuity. People at home would, I think, have
been delighted to see the pretty and tasteful things cut out of snow:
obelisks, sphinxes, vases, cannon, and, lastly, a stately Britannia,
looking to the westward, enlivened the floe, and gave voluntary
occupation to the crews of the vessels. These, however, only served for
a while; and as the arctic night of months closed in, every one's wits
were exerted to the utmost to invent occupation and entertainment for
our little community.

[Headnote: _AN ARCTIC PRAYER._]

On November the 8th, two officers ascended the heights of Griffith's
Island, and at noontide caught the last glimpse of the sun, as it
happened to be thrown up by refraction, though in reality it was
seventeen miles below our horizon. We were now fairly about to undergo
a dark, arctic winter, in 74-1/2 degrees of north latitude; and
light-hearted and confident as we felt in our resources of every
description, one could not, when looking around the dreary scene which
spread around us on every side, but feel how much our lives were in His
hands who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb; and wanting must he have
been in feeling who did not offer up a heartfelt prayer that returning
day and returning summer might find him able and fit to undergo the
hardship and fatigue of journeys on foot, to seek for his long-lost
fellow-seamen. On leaving England, amongst the many kind, thoughtful
presents, both public and private, none struck me as being more
appropriate than the following form of prayer:--

A PRAYER FOR THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

"O Lord God, our Heavenly Father, who teachest man knowledge, and
givest him skill and power to accomplish his designs, we desire
continually to wait, and call, and depend upon Thee. Thy way is in
the sea, and Thy paths in the great waters. Thou rulest and
commandest all things. We therefore draw nigh unto Thee for help in
the great work which we now have to do.

"Leave us not, we beseech Thee, to our own counsel, nor to the
imaginations of our own foolish and deceitful hearts: but lead us
by the way wherein we should go, that