BUCHAN AND FRANKLIN. 85 



that where the sea is deepest and least connected with 

 the land, it will be found most clear of ice. 



On the 18th of May the ships encountered a severe 

 gale, and under even storm staysails were buried gun- 

 wale deep in the waves. On the 24th they sighted 

 Cherie Island, situated in lat, 74 33' N., and long. 17 

 40' E., formerly so noted for its fishery, being much 

 frequented by walruses. For many years the Mus- 

 covy Company carried on a lucrative trade by sending 

 ships to the island for oil ; as many as a thousand ani- 

 mals being often captured by the crew of a single ship 

 in the course of six or seven hours. 



The discovery ships passed slowly through the small 

 floes and huge masses of ice which floated by in succes- 

 sion. The progress through such a labyrinth of frozen 

 masses was a most interesting sight. The officers and 

 crew did not tire of watching the scene. Captain 

 Beechey thus describes the general impression created : 

 " Very few of us had ever seen the sun at midnight ; and 

 this night happening to be particularly clear, his broad 

 red disc, curiously distorted by refraction, and sweep- 

 ing majestically along the northern horizon, was an ob- 

 ject of imposing grandeur, which riveted to the deck 

 some of our crew, who would perhaps have beheld with 

 indifference the less imposing effect of the icebergs. 

 The rays were too oblique to illuminate more than the 

 inequalities of the floes, and, falling thus partially on 

 the grotesque shapes, either really assumed by the ice 

 or distorted by the unequal refraction of the atmos- 

 phere, so betrayed the imagination that it required no 

 great exertion of fancy to trace in various directions 

 architectural edifices, grottos, and caves, here and there, 

 glittering' as if with precious metals. J> 



At Cherie Island the walruses were found very nu- 

 merous. Of the habits and character of the walrua 



