Immediately on our arrival in harbour, Captain Sabine had employed
himself in selecting a place for the observatory, which was
erected in a convenient spot, about seven hundred yards to the
westward of the ships. It was also considered advisable
immediately to set about building a house near the beach for the
reception of the clocks and instruments. For this purpose we made
use of a quantity of fir-plank, which was intended for the
construction of spare boats, and which was so cut as not to injure
it for that purpose. The ground was so hard frozen that it
required great labour to dig holes for the upright posts which
formed the support of the sides. The walls of this house being
double, with moss placed between the two, a high temperature
could, even in the severest weather which we might be doomed to
experience, be kept up in it without difficulty by a single stove.
After our arrival in port we saw several reindeer and a few coveys
of grouse; but the country is so destitute of everything like
cover of any kind, that our sportsmen were not successful in their
hunting excursions, and we procured only three reindeer previous
to the migration of these and the other animals from the island,
which took place before the close of the month of October, leaving
only the wolves and foxes to bear us company during the winter.
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