In order to prevent
the men suffering from wet and cold feet, a pair of strong boots
and boot-stockings were on this occasion served to each.
On the 15th, two or three coveys of ptarmigan were seen, after
which they became more and more numerous, and a brace or two were
almost daily procured for the sick, for whose use they were
exclusively reserved. As it was of the utmost importance, under
our present circumstances, that every ounce of game which we might
thus procure should be served in lieu of other meat, I now renewed
the orders formerly given, that every animal killed was to be
considered as public property; and, as such, to be regularly
issued like any other kind of provision, without the slightest
distinction between the messes of the officers and those of the
ships' companies.
Some of our men having, in the course of their shooting
excursions, been exposed for several hours to the glare of the sun
and snow, returned at night much affected with that painful
inflammation in the eyes occasioned by the reflection of intense
light from the snow, aided by the warmth of the sun, and called in
America "snow blindness." This complaint, of which the sensation
exactly resembles that produced by large particles of sand or dust
in the eyes, is cured by some tribes of American Indians by
holding them over the steam of warm water; but we found a cooling
wash, made by a small quantity of acetate of lead mixed with cold
water, more efficacious in relieving the irritation, which was
always done in three or four days, even in the most severe cases,
provided the eyes were carefully guarded from the light.
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