r to get the ships once more fairly afloat, we commenced
the operation of cutting the ice about them. In order to prevent
the men suffering from wet and cold feet, a pair of strong boots
and boot-stockings were on this occasion served to each.

On the 15th, two or three coveys of ptarmigan were seen, after
which they became more and more numerous, and a brace or two were
almost daily procured for the sick, for whose use they were
exclusively reserved. As it was of the utmost importance, under
our present circumstances, that every ounce of game which we might
thus procure should be served in lieu of other meat, I now renewed
the orders formerly given, that every animal killed was to be
considered as public property; and, as such, to be regularly
issued like any other kind of provision, without the slightest
distinction between the messes of the officers and those of the
ships' companies.

Some of our men having, in the course of their shooting
excursions, been exposed for several hours to the glare of the sun
and snow, returned at night much affected with that painful
inflammation in the eyes occasioned by the reflection of intense
light from the snow, aided by the warmth of the sun, and called in
America "snow blindness." This complaint, of which the sensation
exactly resembles that produced by large particles of sand or dust
in the eyes, is cured by some tribes of American Indians by
holding them over the steam of warm water; but we found a cooling
wash, made by a small quantity of acetate of lead mixed with cold
water, more efficacious in relieving the irritation, which was
always done in three or four days, even in the most severe cases,
provided the eyes were carefully guarded from the light. As a
preventive of this complaint, a piece of black crape was given to
each man, to be worn as a kind of short veil attached to the hat,
which we found to be very serviceable. A still more convenient
mode, adopted by some of the officers, was found equally
efficacious; this consisted in taking the glasses out of a pair of
spectacles, and substituting black or green crape, the glass
having been found to heat the eyes and increase the irritation.

On the 17th we completed the operation of cutting the ice round
the Hecla, which was performed in the following manner. We began
by digging a large hole under the stern, being the same as that in
which the tide-pole was placed, in order to enter the saw, which
occupied us nearly tw