marks of stern desolation and solitude. As in that cold climate wood
is not liable to decay, they joined the boards of which the hut was
constructed, with the help of their axe, very tolerably, filling up
the crevices with moss, which grows in abundance all over the island.
The poor men, like all of their country, were expert carpenters, for
it is customary with them to build their own houses. No want could
have been more dreadful than that of wood, for without firing, they
could never bear up against the intense cold.

As they strayed along the beach, they found, to their joy, a quantity
of wood which had been carried in by the tide. What they first got in
this way were parts of the wreck of vessels, and afterwards trees,
which had been uprooted by the overflowing of rivers, and borne by the
waves into the ocean; but what proved a treasure to the poor
castaways, were some boards which they discovered on the beach, with a
long iron hook, some nails of five or six inches long, and thick in
proportion, and other pieces of iron fastened in them--the sad
memorials of some shattered vessel. Kind Providence seemed to have
directed their steps where help was to be found. Just at the time when
their provisions had nearly failed, and when they were without the
means of replenishing their store, they perceived, not far from the
boards, the root of a fir-tree, which had almost taken the form of a
bow. With the help of their knife, they soon brought it into more
regular shape, but they were unprovided with a string and with arrows.
They determined, in the first instance, to make two lances, to guard
themselves against the formidable attacks of the ferocious white bear;
but without a hammer, it was impossible to form their heads, or those
of the arrows. However, by heating the iron hook, and widening a hole
which it happened to have in the centre, with the help of one of the
large nails, they inserted the handle, and a round button at one end