the material of which it was made, was now their care. When
formed, they dried it in the air, and then heated it red-hot, in which
state they immersed it in their kettle, in a preparation of flour,
which had been boiled down to the consistence of starch. They now
tested it by filling it with melted fat, and to their infinite
delight, they found that they had succeeded in fashioning one that did
not leak. To make it still more secure, they covered the outside with
linen dipped in the starch.

In managing to have light during the dreary months of darkness, they
had attained a great object, which had been doubly desirable on
account of him who was languishing in sickness. That they might not be
wholly dependent on one lamp, of which some accident might deprive
them, they made another. In collecting such wood as had been cast on
shore for fuel, they had fortunately found some cordage and a little
oakum (the sort of hemp used for calking ships), which they turned to
great account as wicks for their lamps. When this store was consumed,
they had recourse to their shirts and drawers--a part of dress worn by
almost all Russian peasants--to supply the want. Like the sacred fire,
these lamps were never suffered to go out. As they were formed soon
after their arrival, they were kept burning without intermission for
the years they passed in their comfortless abode.

The sacrifice made of their shirts and drawers exposed them more to
the intense cold. Their shoes, boots, and other parts of their dress,
were worn out. In this emergency, it was necessary to form some plan
for defending themselves from the inclemency of the climate. The skins
of the reindeer and foxes, which they had converted into bedding, now
afforded the materials for clothing. They were submerged in fresh
water for several days, till the hair was so loosened that it was
easily removed; the leather was then rubbed with their hands till
nearly dry, then melted reindeer fat was spread over it, and then it
was again rubbed. It thus became soft, and fit for the use to which it
was to be put. Some of the skins which they wished to reserve for furs
did not undergo exactly the same process, but were merely left in
water for one day, and were then prepared in the same manner, without
removing the hair. Though now furnished with the materials for
clothing, they were without the implements necessary for making them
into articles of dress. They had neither awls for making sho