NINE MONTHS IN THE ARCTIC. 103 



and for months to come, and without their kind- 

 ness and good will we had no sort of chance for 

 life ; therefore the least misunderstanding or vio- 

 lent collision between the parties might lay the 

 foundation for causes which would result, if not 

 now, yet in some future time, in the destruction 

 of the whole company. These considerations, 

 suggested by the captain, dissuaded his men 

 from attempting a forcible seizure of the canoes 

 of the natives ; and, therefore, for the good of 

 the whole, that means whereby a few possibly 

 might have reached the ship, was given up. 



We leave this painful reminiscence of the past 

 by copying from Tlie Polynesian, published at 

 Honolulu, November 19, 1853, the following 



Card. 



" The undersigned, late master of the whale 

 ship Citizen, of New Bedford, feels it a duty he 

 owes alike to the living and the dead to make 

 known the following circumstances. 



" On the 25th of September, 1852, in the 

 Arctic Ocean, in lat. 68° 10' N., the ship Citizen 

 was wrecked, and five men were lost; himself 

 and the balance of the crew reached the shore, 

 without any thing but the clothes they stood in. 

 It was very cold, and they kept alive by burning 

 casks of oil that had floated ashore from the wreck; 



