The gusts might throw us off our feet, but at least we fell on solid ground and not on the rocking floes.

Two seals came up on the beach that day, one of them within ten yards of my tent.

So urgent was our need of food and blubber that I called all hands and organized a line of beaters instead of simply walking up to the seal and hitting it on the nose.

We were prepared to fall upon this seal en masse if it attempted to escape.

The kill was made with a pick-handle, and in a few minutes five days' food and six days' fuel were stowed in a place of safety among the boulders above high-water mark.