THE WORLD OF ICE. 189

the temperature within. A staircase of snow was
built up to the bulwarks on the larboard quarter, and
on the starboard side an inclined plane of snow was
sloped down to the ice to facilitate the launching
of the sledges when they had to be pulled on deck.

Such were the chief arrangements and preparations
that were made by our adventurers for spending the
winter ; but although we have described them at this
point in our story, many of them were not completed
until a much later period.