immediate duties of the ship appeared by no means sufficient for
that purpose; for I dreaded the want of employment as one of the
worst evils that was likely to befall us.

About the time of the sun's leaving us, the wolves began to
approach the ships more boldly, howling most piteously on the
beach near us, sometimes for hours together, and on one or two
occasions coming alongside the ships, when everything was quiet at
night; but we seldom saw more than one or two together, and
therefore could form no idea of their number. These animals were
always very shy of coming near our people; and though evidently
suffering much from hunger, never attempted to attack any of them.
The white foxes used also to visit the ships at night, and one of
these was caught in a trap set under the Griper's bows. The
uneasiness displayed by this beautiful little animal during the
time of his confinement, whenever he heard the howling of a wolf
near the ships, impressed us with the opinion that the latter is
in the habit of hunting the fox as his prey.

The temperature of the atmosphere having about this time become
considerably lower than before, the cracking of the timbers was
very frequent and loud for a time; but generally ceased altogether
in an hour or two after this fall had taken place in the
thermometer, and did not occur again at the same temperature
during the winter. The wind blowing fresh from the northward, with
a heavy snowdrift, made the ship very cold below; so that the
breath and other vapour accumulated during the night in the bed
places and upon the beams, and then immediately froze; hence it
often occupied all hands for two or three hours during the day to
scrape the ice away, in order to prevent the bedding from becoming
wet by the increase of temperature occasioned by the fires. It was
therefore found necessary to keep some of the fires in between
decks at night, when the thermometer was below -15 deg. or -20 deg. in the
open air, especially when the wind was high. To assist in keeping
the lower decks warm, as well as to retard, in some slight degree,
the formation of ice immediately in contact with the ships' bends,
we banked the snow up against their sides as high as the main
chains; and canvass screens were nailed round all the hatchways on
the lower deck.

The stars of the second magnitude in Ursa Major were just
perceptible to the naked eye a little after noon this day, and the
Aurora Borealis appeared faint