d to winter there, if so fortunate as to find it. Himkof,
with three others, were selected to make the search. They were
provided with a musket, twelve charges of powder, a dozen balls, an
axe, a small kettle, a knife, a tinder-box and tinder, a wooden pipe
for each, some tobacco, and a bag with twenty pounds of flour. This
was as much as they could carry with safety, as they had to make their
way for two miles over loose ridges of ice, which would be still more
difficult and dangerous if they were overloaded, and it required the
utmost caution to avoid falling between these ridges, which had been
raised by the waves and driven together by the winds. The footing once
lost, inevitable destruction must follow. They had not proceeded above
an English mile, when, to their great delight, they descried the hut,
at a distance of about a mile and a half from the shore. Its length
was thirty-six feet, and its breadth and height eighteen. It consisted
of two rooms. The antechamber was about twelve feet broad, and had two
doors--one to exclude the outer air, the other by which it
communicated with the inner room, in which there was an earthen stove,
such as is commonly used in Russia. A very slight inspection sufficed
to shew that the hut had sustained great injury from the weather; but
to have found it in any condition was a subject of great joy, and they
availed themselves of its shelter for the night.

Eager to communicate the good news to their companions, they set out
early the next morning; and as they went on, they chatted cheerfully
about the stores of ammunition and provisions, and various requisites
which could be conveyed from the ship, to be stored in the hut for
winter use. They pursued their way in the highest spirits, picturing
to themselves the delight which they were about to give to their
companions. When they arrived on the shore, not a vestige of the ship
was to be seen; no track through the waters marked her path; all was
still and silent, desolate and bleak: no familiar face was seen; not
one of their comrades was left to tell the hapless tale! They stood
aghast, looking in mute despair upon the sea. The ice by which the
vessel had been hemmed in had totally disappeared. The violent storm
of the night before, they concluded, might have been the cause of this
fatal disaster; the ice might have been disturbed by the agitation of
the waves, and beaten violently against the ship, till she was
shattered to pieces;