276 THE GERMAN ArtCTIC EXrEDITION. 



often fastened a piece of bacon to a string or hook, and 

 easily cauglit one and brought it on deck. The bh'd is 

 not ugly ; its colour is variable ; the young ones are 

 greyish, whilst the old ones are, with the exception of 

 the wings, almost always white ; its head is the most 

 peculiar looking part of it, being highly arched; its 

 strong bluish beak is high and bent like a hook. 



On the night of the 2nd of August a thick fog came on, 

 lasting the whole day, and to prevent our impatience from 

 gaining the mastery we all had recourse to the ropes. 



On the 3rd it was clear ; the ice had indeed changed its 

 position : we were more surrounded than ever by floes, 

 and to the east still less water could be seen. We, how- 

 ever, broke through the ice, and steamed in a north- 

 westerly direction. The floes became larger and larger ; 

 and at last the endless brashes and boundless ice-fields 

 came in sight. At ten p.m. we anchored by a large field, 

 on account of the fog ; we sounded 155 fathoms, nothing 

 but mud. We were in 74° 18' N. Lat. and 16° 6' W. Long. 



On the 4th, at a quarter-past eight a.m., we started west- 

 ward once more ; the air was thick with snow ; to the west 

 we saw a dark water sky, and steered between the brashes 

 and fields in that direction. At nine we came into a 

 large piece of open water, with a few floes drifting. At 

 noon we anchored, principally on account of the boiler, 

 which had to be cleared from the salt. We were in 

 74° 19' N. Lat. and 16° 59' W. Long., not more than thirty- 

 one nautical miles from Sabine Island. 



On these fields we first saw the bears ; there were two 

 watching our ship with great curiosity. Our first shot 

 missed, and they hurriedly took to flight. 



At ten p.m. fog gradually came on, and we were not 



