ed to air their berths, and carefully clean the
interior walls, to get rid of the night's dampness. They received
boiling tea or coffee, which are excellent cordials to use
against the cold, morning and evening; then they were divided
into hunting-parties, who should procure as much fresh nourishment
as possible for every day.

Each one also took healthy exercise every day, so as not to
expose himself without motion to the cold; for in a temperature
thirty degrees below zero, some part of the body might suddenly
become frozen. In such cases friction of the snow was used, which
alone could heal the affected part.

Penellan also strongly advised cold ablutions every morning. It
required some courage to plunge the hands and face in the snow,
which had to be melted within. But Penellan bravely set the
example, and Marie was not the last to imitate him.

Jean Cornbutte did not forget to have readings and prayers, for
it was needful that the hearts of his comrades should not give
way to despair or weariness. Nothing is more dangerous in these
desolate latitudes.

The sky, always gloomy, filled the soul with sadness. A thick
snow, lashed by violent winds, added to the horrors of their
situation. The sun would soon altogether disappear. Had the
clouds not gathered in masses above their heads, they might have
enjoyed the moonlight, which was about to become really their sun
during the long polar night; but, with the west winds, the snow
did not cease to fall. Every morning it was necessary to clear
off the sides of the ship, and to cut a new stairway in the ice
to enable them to reach the ice-field. They easily succeeded in
doing this with snow-knives; the steps once cut, a little water
was thrown over them, and they at once hardened.

Penellan had a hole cut in the ice, not far from the ship. Every
day the new crust which formed over its top was broken, and the
water which was drawn thence, from a certain depth, was less cold
than that at the surface.

All these preparations occupied about three weeks. It was then
time to go forward with the search. The ship was imprisoned for
six or seven months, and only the next thaw could open a new
route across the ice. It was wise, then, to profit by this delay,
and extend their explorations northward.

CHAPTER VIII.

PLAN OF THE EXPLORATIONS.

On the 9th of October, Jean Cornbutte held a council to settle
the plan of his operations, to which, that there might be uni