AA A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 
meridian altitude of the sun at midnight, or, pro- 
perly speaking, below the pole, for we have now of 
course no night; but, as the terms day, and night, 
are convenient when speaking of the time when any 
event occurs that is necessary to be mentioned, I 
shall always make use of them for the sake of per- 
spicuity, although no natural distinction of the kind 
now takes place. 
Friday, 9th. — Nothing has occurred for these 
three days past deserving of particular notice. The 
weather has been variable, sometimes fine, at other 
times the reverse ; but our greatest annoyance has 
been, and still is, the ice, with which we are con- 
stantly hampered. There is one thing we find, 
which is, that, by standing to the eastward, we get 
clear of it; but our object is to get to the westward, 
if possible. 
Sunday, 11th. — As we were sailing along amongst 
the ice this forenoon, a large white bear was observed 
on a piece of it close to the ships. A boat was imme- 
diately lowered to go after him. The weather hap- 
pened to be foggy, so that he did not see us until we 
were within about. a hundred yards of him; he was 
walking about at the time, but as soon as he per- 
ceived us he crouched down on the edge of' the ice, 
and watched our approach very attentively, as if in 
expectation that we should in a short time become his 
prey. We were, on the other hand, no less sanguine 
that he should very soon be our captive, and in 
order to make sure of our mark, we continued to 
pull towards him until the boat was within about 
forty yards of him, when we all fired. One shot 
broke his right hind leg, and the rest (viz. three) 
struck him in different parts of the body. On being 
