A canvas awning was also spread over the deck from stem to stern, so that it was confidently hoped the _Dolphin_ would prove a snug tenement even in the severest cold.
As has been said before, the snow-drift almost buried the hull of the ship, and as snow is a good _non-conductor_ of heat, this further helped to keep up the temperature within.

A staircase of snow was built up to the bulwarks on the larboard quarter, and on the starboard side an inclined plane of snow was sloped down to the ice to facilitate the launching of the sledges when they had to be pulled on deck.
Such were the chief arrangements and preparations that were made by our adventurers for spending the winter; but although we have described them at this point in our story, many of them were not completed until a much later period..