THE WORLD OF ICH, 133.

smile,“ make you fond of rough work in. the snow:
-there’s plenty of «it. before -us-—Come. age below
with me, Meetuck ;- I wish to talk with you.”

As the captain descended to the cabin the men
gave a final cheer, and in tén minutes they were
~ working laboriously at their various duties. = ;
 Buzzby and his party were the first ready and off
to cub moss. They drew a sledge after them. towards
_ the red-snow valley, which was not more than two
miles distant from the ship. ‘This “mossing,” as it
was termed, was by no means a pleasant duty. -Be-
- fore the winter became severe, the moss ‘could be cut
out from the beds of the snow streams with compara-
tive ease; but now the mixed turf of willows, heaths,
grasses, and moss was frozen solid, and had to be
quarried with crowbats and carried to the ship like
so much stone. However, it was prosecuted vigor-
ously, and a sufficient quantity was soon procured. to
pack on the deck of the. ship, and around its sides, _
_ so as to keep out the cold. At the same time, the
operation of discharging the stores was carried on
briskly ; and Fred, in company with Meetuck, ORiley,
and Joseph West, started with the dog-sledge on a
hunting-expedition..

In order to enable the reader better to understand
the condition of the Dolphin and her crew, we will
detail the several arrangements that were made at
this time and during the succeeding fortnight. As a
measure of precaution, the ship, by means of’ blasting,
sawing, and warping, was with great labour got-into