CHAPTER IV. 



drifti:n^g IX ice off herald island. 



27 August — 30 Septemhei; 1879. 



Through Behriug Strait. — Cape Serdze Kamen. — A Letter left for 

 Later Vessel. — Chief George. — Koliutchiu Bay. — Definite Tid- 

 ings of the Vega. — Coasting an Ice-Pack. — Herald Island sighted. 

 — Grinding through the Ice. — The Rudder unshipped. — Setting 

 Bear-Traps. — A Sledge-Party toward Herald Island. — Return of 

 the Party. — A Bear-Chase. — Herald Island Disappearing. — Ex- 

 periments to determine the Air breathed on the Berth Deck. — Con- 

 sumption of Coal. — The Drift Ice. — An Electric Phenomenon. — 

 Bills of Fare. — Daily Routine. 



August 21th, Wednesday. — At 7.35 p. m. we got 

 under way, with schooner in tow, and stood out. Let 

 go of schooner at 9.30, and she stood to the southward 

 and eastward, with northeast wind, while we shaped 

 course N. N. E. and stood toward Behring Strait. 



August 2Wi, Thursday. — The day opens with its 

 (to us) usual accompaniment, a head wind. As we ap- 

 proached Behring Strait, the wind freshened consid- 

 erably, blowing from N. N. W. true, a heavy fog 

 blowing over the bluff highland on the Asiatic side. 

 Just to the southward of East Cape saw a schooner 

 close under the land and standing to the southward. 

 Upon showing our ensign, she hoisted American colors. 

 As she had a crow's-nest at her mast-head, I assumed 

 that she was a whaler. The wind seemed to draw reg- 

 ularly down through the Strait as through a funnel, and 

 as we passed through, the wind hauled to the westward 



