THE WORLD OF ICE. 119

they are inevitable, but because they are the will of
God—of him who has asserted in his own Word that
“he afilicteth not the children of men willingly.”
Among so many men there were all shades of char-
acter, and the fact that they were doomed to a year’s
imprisonment in the Frozen Regions was received in
very different ways. Some looked grave and thought
of it seriously ; others laughed and treated it lightly ;
afew grumbled and spoke profanely; but most of them
became quickly reconciled, and in a week or two
nearly all forgot the past and the future in the duties,
and cares, and amusements of the present. Captain
Guy and his officers, however, and a few of the more
sedate men, among whom were Buzzby and Peter
Grim, looked forward with much anxiety, knowing
full well the dangers and trials that lay before them.
It is true the ship was provisioned for more than
a year, but most of the provisions were salt, and Tom
Singleton could have told them, had they vequired to
be told, that without fresh provisions they stood a
poor chance of escaping that dire disease scurvy, before
which have fallen so many gallant tars whom nothing
in the shape of dangers or difficulties could subdue.
There were, indeed, myriads of wild-fowl flying about
the ship, on which the men feasted and erew fat
every day; and the muskets of Meetuck and those
who accompanicd him seldom failed to supply the
ship with an abundance of the flesh of seals, walruses,
and Polar bears, portions of all of which creatures
were considered very good indecd by the men, and