"The cook deserves much praise for the way he has stuck to his job
through all this severe blizzard. His galley consists of nothing but a
few boxes arranged as a table, with a canvas screen erected around them
on four oars and the two blubber-stoves within. The protection
afforded by the screen is only partial, and the eddies drive the
pungent blubber-smoke in all directions."
After a few days we were able to build him an igloo of ice-blocks,
with a tarpaulin over the top as a roof.
"Our rations are just sufficient to keep us alive, but we all feel
that we could eat twice as much as we get. An average day's food at
present consists of ? lb. of seal with ? pint of tea for breakfast, a 4-
oz. bannock with milk for lunch, and ? pint of seal stew for supper.
That is barely enough, even doing very little work as we are, for of
course we are completely destitute of bread or potatoes or anything of
that sort. Some seem to feel it more than others and are continually
talking of food; but most of us find that the continual conversation
about food only whets an appetite that cannot be satisfied. Our
craving for bread and butter is very real, not because we cannot get
it, but because the system feels the need of it."
Owing to this shortage of food and the fact that we needed all that we
could get for ourselves, I had to order all the dogs except two teams
to be shot.
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