[Sketch of sleeping arrangement].

On Snow.—­I shall have to describe snow-houses and snow-walls covered with sail-cloth, under “Huts.”  Here I will speak of more simple arrangements.  Dr. Kane says:—­“We afterwards learnt to modify and reduce our travelling-gear, and found that in direct proportion to its simplicity and to our apparent privation of articles of supposed necessity, were our actual comfort and practical efficiency.  Step by step, as long as our Arctic service continued, we went on reducing our sledging outfit, until we at last came to the Esquimaux ultimatum of simplicity—­raw meat and a fur bag.”  Lieut.  Cresswell, R.N., who, having been detached from Captain McClure’s ship in 1853, was the first officer who ever accomplished the famous North-West passage, gave the following graphic account of the routine of his journeying, in a speech at Lynn:—­“You must be aware that in Arctic travelling you must depend entirely on your own resources.  You have not a single thing else to depend on except snow-water:  no produce of the country, nor firewood, or coals, or anything off the sort; and whatever you have to take, to sustain you for the journey, you must carry or drag.  It is found by experience more easy to drag it on sledges than to carry it.  The plan we adopt is this:—­we have a sledge generally manned by about six or ten men, which we load with provisions, with tents, and all requisites for travelling, simple cooking utensils, spirits-of-wine for cooking, etc., and start off.  The quantity of people can generally drag over the ice is forty days’ provisions; that gives about 200 lbs. weight to each.  After starting from the ship, and having travelled a certain number of hours—­generally ten or eleven—­we encamp for the night, or rather for the day, because it is considered better to travel at night and sleep at day, on account of the glare of the sun on the snow.  We used to travel journeys of about ten hours, and then encamp, light our spirits-of-wine, put our kettle on it to thaw our snow-water, and after we had had our supper—­just a piece of pemmican and a glass of water—­we were glad to smoke our pipes and turn into bed.  The first thing we did, after pitching the tent, was to lay a sort of macintosh covering over the snow; on this a piece of buffalo robe was stretched.  Each man and officer had a blanket sewn up in the form of a bag; and into these we used to jump, much in the same way as you may see a boy do in a sack.  We lay down head and feet, the next person to me having his head to my feet, and his feet to my head, so that we lay like herrings in a barrel.  After this, we covered ourselves with skin, spreading them over the whole of us; and the closer we got, the better, as there was more warmth.  We lay till the morning, and then the process was the same again.”  It appears that people may bury themselves in snow, and want neither air nor warmth.  I have never made the experiment; but have read of numerous instances of people falling into snow-drifts, and not being extricated for many days, and when at length they were taken out, they never seem to have complained of cold, or any other sufferings than those of hunger and of anxiety.