312 THE JEANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



the way was steep ; but the descent was a difficult and 

 dangerous one. I had in many places to dig places for my 

 feet with my hands, and then by burying my sheath-knife to 

 the hilt in this very insecure holding ground, let myself 

 down. In one place I lost my grip and down I went some 

 twenty feet, fortunately bringing up unharmed save torn 

 clothes and hands. In another place when half way down 

 a voice sung. out, ' Look out, sir !' I did so, and saw an ava- 

 lanche of huge rocks and earth coming for me. Seeing a 

 chance of safety behind an out-cropping crag, I hastily avail- 

 ed myself of it, but barely in time, as these missiles of death 

 hurtled down. My companion said he never expected to get 

 out of it alive. That and many other narrow shaves I have 

 since weathered, but my companion of that day is gone. 

 Sharvell was a good fellow, always in excellent spirits, and 

 contributed much toward the welfare of our camp life. 



The next day the men by throwing stones got 125 murres, 

 which were very acceptable as fresh food. Two days after 

 this I shot forty-one more, shooting from a wild, dangerous 

 place some seven hundred feet above the sea. It seemed as 

 if the vibration of the report must cause the disintegrated 

 rocks to fall. The 1st of August I took another tramp of 

 some seven or eight miles, and visited the most extensive 

 breeding ground I have ever seen of any bird. There were 

 gulls, murres, and guillemots in thousands, and at the report 

 of my gun they came out into the air so thickly as to darken 

 the sun and almost make me think the walls of rocks were 

 falling. Their noise drowned conversation. Kittiwakes 

 were the most common. I got within six or eight feet of 

 some on their nests without their offering to leave. I fairly 

 envied these beautiful creatures their cosy home. The land 

 here sloped at an angle of some fifty degrees, from which 

 rugged rocks cropped out, and above which they towered, 

 high trap ledges with red lichen in masses. 



One place I passed that was most interesting. It was a 

 rising valley, which receded gradually from the seashore. A 

 fine stream of water was here, clear and cold. About half 



