preparations for
dinner. He is in good humour as usual, but perhaps
grumbles a little at the 'mosucks' (a common name on board
for the Chukches), who will not give him any peace by
their continual cries for 'mimil' (water.)

"The forenoon passes in all quietness and stillness.
Immediately after noon nearly all the gunroom people are
again on deck, promenading backwards and forwards. It is
now very lively. It is the crew's meal-time. The whole
crowd of Chukches are collected at the descent to their
apartment, the lower deck. One soup basin after the other
comes up; they are immediately emptied of their contents
by those who in the crowd and confusion are fortunate
enough to get at them. Bread and pieces of meat and bits
of sugar are distributed assiduously, and disappear with
equal speed. Finally, the cook himself appears with a
large kettle, containing a very large quantity of meat
soup, which the Chukches like starving animals throw
themselves upon, baling into them with spoons, empty
preserve tins, and above all with the hands.
Notwithstanding the exceedingly severe cold a woman here
and there has uncovered one arm and half her breast in
order not to be embarrassed by the wide reindeer-skin
sleeve in her attempts to get at the contents of the
kettle. The spectacle is by no means a pleasant one.

[Illustration: AN EVENING IN THE GUNROOM OF THE "VEGA" DURING
THE WINTERING. ]

"By three o'clock it begins to grow dark, and one after
the other of our guests depart, to return, the most of
them, in the morning. Now it is quiet and still. About six
the crew have finished their labours and dispose of the
rest of the day as they please. Most of them are occupied
with reading during the evening hours. When supper has
been served at half-past seven in the gunroom, he who has
the watch in the ice-house from nine to two next morning
prepares for the performance of his disagreeable duty; the
rest of the gunroom _personnel_ are assembled there, and
pass the evening in conversation, play, light reading, &c.
At ten every one retires, and the lamps are extinguished.
In many cabins, however, lights burn till after midnight.

"Such was in general our life on the _Vega_. One day was
very like another. When the storm howled, the snow
drifted, and the cold became too severe,