Besides all this,
a theatre was set agoing, of which we shall have more to say hereafter.
In thus minutely recounting the various expedients which these banished
men fell upon to pass the long dark hours of an Arctic winter, we may,
perhaps, give the reader the impression that a great deal of thought and
time were bestowed upon _amusement_, as if that were the chief end and
object of their life in those regions. But we must remind him that
though many more pages might be filled in recounting all the
particulars, but a small portion of their time was, after all, taken up
in this way; and it would have been well for them had they been able to
find more to amuse them than they did, for the depressing influence of
the long-continued darkness, and the want of a sufficiency of regular
employment for so many months added to the rigorous nature of the
climate in which they dwelt, well-nigh broke their spirits at last.
In order to secure warmth during winter, the deck of the ship was padded
with moss about a foot deep, and down below the walls were lined with
the same material. The floors were carefully plastered with common paste
and covered with oakum a couple of inches deep, over which a carpet of
canvas was spread. Every opening in the deck was fastened down and
covered deeply over with moss, with the exception of one hatch, which
was their only entrance, and this was kept constantly closed except when
it was desirable to ventilate.
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