o eat a good deal.
The Esquimaux take from ten to fifteen pounds of oil a day. If that
fare does not please you, we must try food rich in sugar and fat. In a
word, we need carbon, so let us manufacture carbon! It is well to put
coal in the stove, but don't let us forget to fill that precious stove
we carry about with us."

With this bill of fare, strict cleanliness was enforced; every other
day each man was obliged to bathe in the half-frozen water which the
iron pump brought up, and this was an excellent way of preserving
their health. The doctor set the example; he did it at first as a
thing which ought to be very disagreeable; but this pretext was
quickly forgotten, for he soon took real pleasure in this healthy
bath.

When work or hunting or distant expeditions took the men off in the
severe cold, they had to take special care not to be frost-bitten; if
they were, rubbing with snow would restore the circulation. Moreover,
the men, who all wore woollen clothes, put on coats of deerskin and
trousers of sealskin, which perfectly resist the wind.

The different arrangements of the ship, the getting-to-rights on
board, took about three weeks, and they reached October 10th without
any special incident.

CHAPTER XXV.
ONE OF JAMES ROSS'S FOXES.

On that day the thermometer fell to three degrees below zero. The day
was calm; the cold was very endurable in the absence of wind. Hatteras
took advantage of the clearness of the air to reconnoitre the
surrounding plains; he ascended one of the highest icebergs to the
north, but even with his glass he could make out nothing but a series
of ice-mountains and ice-fields. There was no land in sight, nothing
but gloomy confusion. He returned, and tried to calculate the probable
length of their imprisonment.

The hunters, and among them the doctor, James Wall, Simpson, Johnson,
and Bell, kept them supplied with fresh meat. The birds had
disappeared, seeking a milder climate in the south. The ptarmigans
alone, a sort of rock-partridge peculiar to this latitude, did not
flee the winter; it was easy to kill them, and there were enough to
promise a perpetual supply of game.

[Illustration]

Hares, foxes, wolves, ermines, and bears were plentiful; a French,
English, or Norwegian hunter would have had no right to complain; but
they were so shy that it was hard to approach them; besides, it was
hard to distinguish them on the white plain, they being white
themselves, for i