Peter, on the other hand, is a quiet, unobtrusive fellow, and is always ready and willing to do any thing that is required of him, even by the sailors, with whom he is very popular; and, of course, as with good-nature everywhere, he is sometimes imposed upon. Jacob is Peter's brother, and he continues to be the butt of the forecastle. The men have made a bargain with him, and, according to all accounts, it works satisfactorily. He is to wash their dishes, and they in return are to give him all the crumbs that fall from their table. On these he is growing more and more fat, and he has now greater difficulty than ever in getting about. There is a beam in the fore-hold, only two feet and a half from the floor, which he can no longer climb over. His efforts to crawl under it have been not unaptly compared to those of a seal waddling over the ice about its breathing-hole. Mr. Wardle's fat boy was not more shapeless, and, like that plethoric individual, he chiefly divides his time between eating and sleeping. His cheeks are puffed out in a very ridiculous manner, and altogether he answers very well the description of Mirabeau's corpulent acquaintance, who seemed to have been created for no other purpose than to show to what extent the human skin is capable of being stretched without bursting. The executive officer tells me that he sent him the other day to the upper deck to dress a couple of reindeer; but, having proceeded far enough to expose a tempting morsel, he halted in his work, carved off a slice of the half-frozen flesh, and was found some time afterwards fast asleep between the two dead animals, with the last fragment of his _bonne bouche_ dangling from his lips. November 1st. The new month comes in stormy. The travelers were to have set out to-day, but a fierce gale detains them on board. The moon is now three days past full, and if they are delayed much longer they will scarcely have light enough for the journey. McCormick and Dodge have set a bear-trap between the icebergs Castor and Pollux. It is a mammoth steel-trap, and is baited with venison and fastened with my best ice-anchor. I pity the poor beast that gets his foot in it. [Sidenote: COAL ACCOUNT.] [Sidenote: THE HOUSE ON DECK.] [Sidenote: COMFORT OF OUR QUARTERS.]