Carpet boots, or moccasins made of moose-skin, were worn on the feet. The former were furnished with tops, made of duffel, reaching as high as the knees, and with cork soles over an inch thick. With any temperature below zero leather boots and shoes must be discontinued, as they freeze so hard that the material loses its flexibility, and renders the foot in consequence more liable to frost-bite. Moccasins, worn over a couple of pairs of blanket wrappers, and a pair of thick woollen stockings reaching above the knee, are undoubtedly the most comfortable foot-gear, and the best adapted for low temperatures. Blanket wrappers are, as their name indicates, strips of blanket, generally about sixteen inches square, worn folded round the feet in lieu of socks and stockings, than which they are infinitely warmer. As a rule, officers and men were dressed alike. Occasionally some of the former would make their appearance in long fur coats with hoods that they had obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company's store and other places in London, but the majority adhered to the clothing supplied to them by Government. A special winter routine was made out, and commenced shortly after the return of the sledge parties. It was strictly adhered to through the long winter night that ensued. I must not omit to mention the duty of keeping open the "fire hole"--a very necessary and important precaution, that must be taken, in order to be able to obtain a supply of water in case of fire breaking out on board. As a rule, in all ships that have wintered in the Arctic Regions, the water has frozen below the suction valves of the pumps, thus rendering them totally useless. In order, therefore, to obtain water, a hole was invariably cut through the ice near the ship, which was generally placed in charge of the quarter-master of the watch, whose duty it was from time to time to clear off the young ice from its surface, so that at any moment water might be obtained in buckets. In the "Alert," in consequence of our valves being much lower, our pumps were never incapacitated from this cause; still they were liable to be rendered useless by the water in the pipes becoming frozen. We therefore always kept our fire-hole in working order. It was close to the bow of the vessel, and was inclosed by a snow hut, so as to guard against the danger of anybody falling in whilst walking about in the dark. By fixing a tide-pole in the hole, and by devising a self-registering apparatus with a line leading from the tide-pole to the forecastle of the "Alert," we were able to obtain a very complete and valuable series of tidal observations. From having the registering-gauge on board the ship, these observations were continued uninterruptedly, and were unaffected by gales of wind or bad weather, that would otherwise have prevented any one from going outside the vessel in order to note them.