or 15 deg. This part of the twenty-four hours was
often a time, and the only one, of real enjoyment to us; the men told
their stories and "fought all their battles o'er again," and the labours
of the day, unsuccessful as they too often were, were forgotten. A
regular watch was set during our resting-time, to look out for bears or
for the ice breaking up round us, as well as to attend to the drying of
the clothes, each man alternately, taking this duty for one hour. We
then concluded our day with prayers, and, having put on our fur-dresses,
lay down to sleep with a degree of comfort, which perhaps few persons
would imagine possible under such circumstances; our chief inconvenience
being that we were somewhat pinched for room, and therefore obliged to
stow rather closer than was quite agreeable. The temperature, while we
slept, was usually from 36 deg. to 45 deg., according to the state of
the external atmosphere; but on one or two occasions in calm and warm
weather, it rose as high as 60 deg. to 66 deg., obliging us to throw off
a part of our fur-dress. After we had slept seven hours, the man
appointed to boil the cocoa roused us when it was ready by the sound of
a bugle, when we commenced our day in the manner before described.
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