, for
they were quite destitute of both. The intenseness of the cold, together
with the want of proper conveniences, prevented them from cooking their
victuals in a proper manner. There was but one stove in the hut, and
that being set up agreeable to the Russian taste, was more like an oven,
and consequently not well adapted for boiling anything. Wood also was
too precious a commodity to be wasted in keeping up two fires; and the
one they might have made out of their habitation to dress their victuals
would in no way have served to warm them. Another reason against their
cooking in the open air was the continual danger of an attack from the
white bears. And here I must observe that, suppose they had made the
attempt it would still have been practicable for only some part of the
year; for the cold, which in such a climate for some months scarcely
ever abates, from the long absence of the sun, then enlightening the
opposite hemisphere,--the inconceivable quantity of snow, which is
continually falling through the greatest part of the winter, together
with the almost incessant rains at certain seasons,--all these were
almost insurmountable to that expedient. To remedy, therefore, in some
degree the hardship of eating their meat raw, they bethought themselves
of drying some of their provisions during the summer in the open air,
and afterwards of hanging it up in the upper part of the hut, which, as
I mentioned before, was continually filled with smoke down to the
windows; it was thus dried thoroughly by the help of that smoke. This
meat so prepared, they used for bread, and it made them relish their
other flesh the better, as they could only half-dress it. Finding this
experiment answer in every respect to their wishes, they continued to
practise it during the whole time of their confinement upon the island,
and always kept up, by that means, a sufficient stock of provisions.
Water they had in summer from small rivulets that fell from the rocks,
and in winter from the snow and ice thawed. This was of course their
only beverage; and their small kettle was the only vessel they could
make use of for this and other purposes. I have mentioned above that our
sailors brought a small bag of flour with them to the island. Of this
they had consumed about one-half with their meat; the remainder they
employed in a different manner equally useful. They soon saw the
necessity of keeping up a continual fire in so cold a climate, and found
t