Nov. 1857. ICE-ARTILLERY. 51 



iGt/i. — A renewal of ice-crushing within a few hundred 

 yards of us. I can hear it in my bed. The ordinary sound 

 resembles the roar of distant surf breaking heavily and con- 

 tinuously; but when heavy masses come in collision with 

 much impetus, it fully realizes the justness of Dr. Kane's 

 descriptive epithet, " ice-artillery." Fortunately for us, our 

 poor little ' Fox ' is well within the margin of a stout old 

 floe : we are therefore undisturbed spectators of ice-conflicts, 

 which would be irresistible to anything of human con- 

 struction. Immediately about the ship all is still, and, as 

 far as appearances go, she is precisely as she would be in 

 a secure harbour — housed all over, banked up with snow 

 to her gunwales. In fact, her winter plumage is so com- 

 plete that the masts alone are visible. The deck and the 

 now useless skylights are covered with hard snow. Below 

 hatches we are warm and dry ; all are in excellent health 

 and spirits, looking forward to an active campaign next 

 winter. God grant it may be realized ! 



Yesterday Young shot the fiftieth seal, an event duly 

 celebrated by our drinking the bottle of champagne which 

 had been set apart in more hopeful times to be drunk on 

 reaching the " North Water " — our unhappy failure, the more 

 keenly felt from being so very unexpected ! 



Petersen saw and fired a shot into a narwhal, which 

 brought the blubber out. When most arctic creatures are 

 wounded in the water, blubber more frequently than blood 

 appears, particularly if the wound is superficial — it spreads 

 over the surface of the water like oil. Bills of fare vary 

 much, even in Greenland. I have enquired of Petersen, and 

 he tells me that the Greenland Esquimaux (there are many 

 Greenlanders of Danish origin) are not agreed as to which 

 of their animals affords the most delicious food; some of 

 them prefer reindeer venison, others think more favourably 

 of young dog, the flesh of which, he asserts, is " just like the 



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