e to be
exposed to the air for any length of time than during the dark months.

About the middle of March there were slight signs of a thaw, the snow
being glazed over in the evening, as if the sun had had some effect on
it. We also felt a sensible improvement in the temperature, and were
soon able not only to wash our clothes, but to dry them in the open air,
an operation which rather astonished our Esquimaux friends.

Early in May there was a perceptible twilight at midnight, so that we
felt the summer had once more begun.

A little later, ptarmigan, grouse, and other birds made their
appearance, and the Esquimaux reported that they had seen the tracks of
deer and musk-oxen. Still, far out to sea there was the same dreary
flat expanse of ice, covered with a sheet of snow.

I ought to have mentioned that for the sake of being nearer the edge of
the ice, where seals could be caught, some of our friends had built for
themselves snow-huts on the ice. For this purpose they completely swept
away the snow, leaving a flooring of clear ice, which was of the richest
and most splendid blue that nature affords. I thought to myself, with
these simple materials what a magnificent palace might be built, far
surpassing any other style of edifice!

The increasing warmth of the weather now enabling us to work out of
doors for several hours together, it was once more seriously proposed
that we should begin to build a boat, or, as some insisted on calling
her, a vessel, to carry us home. I asked Andrew what he thought on the
subject, for he had not expressed any very strong opinion either one way
or the other. He replied that he thought there could be no harm in
trying to build a small vessel; that we had an abundance of materials
and tools, with provisions; and that if we could contrive to make her
seaworthy, we might manage to reach one of the places to the south
constantly visited by whalers; but if not, we must be content to wait
till some ship might pass in the autumn.

He owned that he, for one, should not be inclined to venture out of
sight of land; and that, provided we took a good supply of provisions
with us, our firearms and powder, our harpoons and lances, after the
experience we had had, we could not come to much harm, even if we were
compelled to weather out another winter in the arctic regions.

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.

Having determined to build a vessel, we set to work with great energy;
and we hoped by in