NINE MONTHS IN THE ARCTIC. Ill 



ourselves. They not only joined us in eating 

 what belonged to us, but they took what they 

 wanted, both openly and secretly. 



The weather continued quite moderate, we 

 should judge, for this region of the north, not in- 

 tensely cold, still gradually increasing, until the 

 17th of November. While the sea was open, 

 whales were very plenty. They came near the 

 shore where our settlement was located, and 

 sported among the breakers, and in some in- 

 stances, would rest their huge heads upon the 

 rocks, just on the surface of the water. 



About this time, a very severe gale of wind 

 blew from the north, more furious and winterish 

 than had occurred since our abode in this region, 

 accompanied with a heavy fall of snow. The 

 wind was so violent that it prostrated several na- 

 tive huts. This storm was doubtless a forerun- 

 ner of winter indeed, and which brought from 

 the remote wastes of the Northern Sea vast quan- 

 tities of ice, which, in connection with that which 

 had been forming along the coast, closed up the 

 whole ocean as far as the eye could reach. In- 

 deed, all water entirely disappeared. 



This was an uncommon and singular feature 

 in our experience of an arctic winter. It thus 

 began in earnest to put on the sterner and more 

 terrible attributes of dreariness and desolation, 



