CHAP. VI.] A WALRUS. 351 



some time passed away, and probably his thoughts 

 were wandering to far other scenes, when sud- 

 denly, from among the pieces of ice at his feet, 

 up sprang a walrus. The stranger startled the 

 boatswain beyond measure ; and, far from 

 attempting to touch his gun, he stood staring 

 with riveted astonishment at the long tusks, and, 

 to use his own language, the "grey beard," of 

 the apparition before him, until the walrus 

 having sufficiently breathed itself, and less curious 

 than the astonished seaman, quietly sank again 

 to the dark recesses of the deep. He then 

 remembered it was a sea-horse, and came on 

 board with the account. 



Towards night the ice opened, and streamed 

 away to the eastward past the ship, insomuch 

 that it became necessary to dispatch the boat for 

 some parties, who suddenly discovered that, in- 

 stead of being on the main pack, they were 

 slowly floating away on detached masses. The 

 utmost extent of water was not more than two 

 miles, in a south-west direction towards Hud- 

 son's Bay, and this, during the night, was par- 

 tially closed, though on June 3d there was an 

 appearance of many slack places in the same 

 quarter. The officers amused themselves in en- 

 deavouring to kill an immense seal, that incau- 

 tiously rolled across a piece of ice within three 

 hundred yards from us ; but, notwithstanding 



