° ' 1920 J Fisher, In Memoriam: Lyman Belding. 37 



with only the tip of their noses even with the surface of the water. 

 The beaver about Marysville burrowed in the banks of the rivers. 

 Beaver and otter became scarce long ago. 



"I went to Marysville to reside early in October, 1862. Small 

 game was abundant. Myriads of ducks and geese came from the 

 north and east of the Sierras in October and November. Butte 

 Creek attracted most of them. The Wood Duck. was very com- 

 mon on Feather River and was a constant resident. It is now, 

 as in the country generally, quite rare. The Mountain Plover 

 appeared abundantly on the plains in October. At present it is 

 apparently on the verge of extinction. There were a few deer 

 along Feather River below Marysville and a few in the Marysville 

 Buttes. Mountain Quail came down from the mountains near 

 Oroville and other localities on the eastern border of the valley to 

 spend the winter." 



In the autumn of 1S49, Mr. Belding nearly succumbed to an 

 attack of typhoid fever, and during a tedious convalescence was 

 still further weakened by malarial fever. On account of his de- 

 bilitated condition due to these complication's his doctor advised 

 a sea voyage to hasten recovery. 



After spending nine months with a sister, at Baltimore, Mary- 

 land, to partially regain his strength, he sailed for Boston and 

 arrived about July, 1851. He then went to New Bedford and 

 after a few days shipped on the 'Uncas,' which was going to the 

 Arctic for bowhead whales. This voyage lasted three and a half 

 years. The 'Uncas' arrived at the Azores (about three weeks' 

 voyage from New Bedford), and visited Flores and St. Michael 

 for the purpose of completing the crew. The vessel touched at 

 Cape of Good Hope, St. Paul, Amsterdam Island, New Zealand 

 and Guam, and reached Bering Straits in July, 1852. During the 

 cruise in the Arctic the vessel went north to the 73rd parallel and 

 was successful in securing a full cargo of oil from bowhead whales. 

 When the sun went below the horizon the ship turned south on 

 her homeward journey. A stop was made at Petropavlovsk, a 

 Russian penal colony, for water and the purchase of furs. On 

 arrival at Honolulu, 150 whaling vessels were found anchored there, 

 the greater number of which had been in the Arctic at the same time 

 as the 'Uncas.' 



On account of unbearable treatment at the hands of the Captain 



