185;3.1 REVISIT CAPE DISRAELI. 295 



unexpectedly confronted, they are driven to desperation, 

 and endeavour to show fight. All animals at bay are 

 dangerous. The Polar bear is cunning and inquisitive, 

 and having discovered your power, very wisely declines 

 the combat. 



About noon the heat in the tent became very oppres- 

 sive, the internal thermometer exhibiting 80, when that 

 outside stood at 30 ; the heat, nevertheless, exposed to 

 sun, was biting. At six A.M. the face of this sloping 

 point was encased by an entire sheet of ice, scarcely af- 

 fording standing ground, and compelling me to resort to 

 the aid of a boarding pike for safety : at six P.M. thaw 

 had entirely denuded the point, rendering it unpleasantly 

 soft and yielding. This uncovered the skeleton of ano- 

 ther whale imbedded in the soil, about eighty feet above 

 the mean level. 



About six P.M., with a favourable wind aiding, we 

 again pushed forward, reaching about midnight the 

 skirting belt of Cape Disraeli, and, as time was precious, 

 taking two of the party, I took the mount "by the 

 horns," obtained the requisite observations, rejoining the 

 division about the time they reached our old encamp- 

 ment. We experienced a bitter cold wind on the sum- 

 mit, and a repetition of the freezing fog alluded to at 

 Cape Pyni. The result however repaid the exertion, and 

 spared a special ascent during the proper time for rest. 

 I had become very anxious during the late high tempe- 

 ratures about the " north water," fearing that if it made, 

 we might be impeded in our contemplated expedition to 

 the new islands seen in the northern horizon. 



At this station a flight of brent-geese, an owl, several 



