188 THE JEANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



on the port side and to windward, so they did not scent the 

 bear. The greatest quietness prevailed, and a squad of 

 about ten riflemen was immediately organized on the poop. 

 I was watching the bears through a cabin air-port, and it 

 was a very fine sight to see the mother and her two cubs 

 approach the ship in a wondering and cautious manner. I 

 could see better under the mist than the people on the poop. 

 I heard the captain say : 



" Do any of you think it is over 250 yards ?" 



All seemed to agree and he said : 



" Aim at 250 yards, and wait for the word ' Fire !' " 



Then succeeded a volley. The bears reeled and made 

 several turns, and I thought that we had bagged all of them, 

 but was astonished to see them get up and walk off in the 

 most lively manner. Of course all the dogs took the alarm 

 and pursued them to the first crack, which the bears calmly 

 swam, across and thus escaped. But large drops of blood 

 were seen, and the she-bear lay down once or twice as if 

 wounded. In making her retreat she drove her cubs before 

 her, and became impatient when they moved slowly. The 

 bears had been hit, but the distance had been under-esti- 

 mated and most of the shots had fallen short. This was not 

 extraordinary, because it was very misty. 



After this one year of experience in the ice we concluded 

 that the general motion of the ice was due principally to the 

 wind, and that the resultant of the winds was from the 

 southeast. Some of us talked about the polar region being 

 covered with an immense " ice cap," which seemed to have a 

 slow, general movement in the direction of the hands of a 

 watch, the direction of the drift, of course, being different 

 in the different segments. The influence of Wrangel Island 

 would be to impede the drift of the segment lying to the 

 northward and eastward, and I imagined that there must be 

 a constant strife between Wrangel Land and the solid 

 phalanx of ice from the northeast. This polar ice cap we 

 know throws off in its revolutions millions of acres every 

 year through the gates of Robeson's Channel' and between 



