or does not escape."

"That's true," said Johnson. "We shall raise a fortification against
the cold, and against animals too, if they take it into their heads
to pay us a visit; when the work is done it will answer, I can tell
you. We shall make two flights of steps in the snow, one from the
ship and the other from outside; when once we've cut out the steps
we shall pour water over them, and it will make them as hard as rock.
We shall have a royal staircase."

"It's a good thing that cold makes ice and snow, and so gives us the
means of protecting ourselves against it. I don't know what we should
do if it did not."

A roofing of tarred cloth was spread over the deck and descended to
the sides of the brig. It was thus sheltered from all outside
impression, and made a capital promenade; it was covered with two
feet and a-half of snow, which was beaten down till it became very
hard, and above that they put a layer of sand, completely macadamising
it.

"With a few trees I should imagine myself in Hyde Park," said the
doctor, "or in one of the hanging gardens of Babylon."

They made a hole at a short distance from the brig; it was round,
like a well; they broke the ice every morning. This well was useful
in case of fire or for the frequent baths ordered to keep the crew
in health. In order to spare their fuel, they drew the water from
a greater depth by means of an apparatus invented by a Frenchman,
Francois Arago. Generally, when a ship is wintering, all the objects
which encumber her are placed in magazines on the coast, but it was
impossible to do this in the midst of an ice-field. Every precaution
was taken against cold and damp; men have been known to resist the
cold and succumb to damp; therefore both had to be guarded against.
The _Forward_ had been built expressly for these regions, and the
common room was wisely arranged. They had made war on the corners,
where damp takes refuge at first. If it had been quite circular it
would have done better, but warmed by a vast stove and well ventilated,
it was very comfortable; the walls were lined with buckskins and not
with woollen materials, for wool condenses the vapours and
impregnates the atmosphere with damp. The partitions were taken down
in the poop, and the officers had a large comfortable room, warmed
by a stove. Both this room and that of the crew had a sort of antechamber,
which prevented all direct communication with the exterior, and
prevented the heat goi