Page:Furcountryorseve00vernrich.djvu/161

 FORT HOPE, Sy The timbers, both in the inside and outside walls, were only laid side by side. To insure their being properly joined, Eae the. blacksmith drove strong iron bolts through them at inter- vals; and when even this contrivance proved insufficient to close the interstices as hermetically as was necessary, Mac-Nab had recourse to calking, a process which seamen find invaluable in rendering vessels water-tight ; only as a substitute for tow he used a sort of dry moss, with which the eastern side of the cape was covered, driving it into the crevices with calking-irons and a hammer, filling up each hollow with layers of hot tar, obtained without difficulty from the pine-trees> and thus making the walls and boarding impervious to the rain and damp of the winter season. The door and windows in the two fronts were roughly but fitrongly built, and the small panes of the latter glazed with isinglass, which, though rough, yellow, and almost opaque, was yet the best substitute for glass which the resources of the country afforded ; and its imperfections really mattered little, as the windows were sure to be always open in fine weather ; while during the long night of the Arctic winter they would be useless, and have to be kept closed and defended by heavy shutters with strong bolts against the violence of the gales. Meanwhile the house was being quickly fitted up inside. By means of a double door between the outer and inner halls, a too sudden change of temperature was avoided, and the wind was prevented from blowing with unbroken force into the rooms. The air-pumps, brought from Fort Reliance, were so fixed as to let in fresh air whenever excessive cold prevented the opening of doors or windows — one being made to eject the impure air from within, the other to renew the supply ; for the Lieutenant had given his whole mind to this important matter. The principal cooking utensil was a large iron furnace, which had been brought piecemeal from Fort Reliance, and which the carpenter put up without any difficulty. The chimneys for the kitchen and hall, however, seemed likely to tax the ingenuity of the workmen to the utmost, as no material within their reach was strong enough for the purpose, and stone, as we have said before, was nowhere to be found in the country around Cape Bathurst. The difficulty appeared insurmountable, when the invincible Lieutenant suggested that they should utilise the shells with which the shore was strewed. " Make chimneys of shells ! " cried the carpenter.