216 WALRUS. WILD FOWL. 



At nearly midnight, three hearty cheers from the 

 crews of the vessels, who manned the riggings to 

 see us away, sounded farewell to our little band. 

 We returned their shouts with energy, and thus, 

 amid waving hands and re-echoing adieus, Ave pro- 

 ceeded on our mission. The vessels weighed also, 

 and accompanied us for awhile, but a dense fog 

 gathering around, soon hid them from our view, and 

 we were fairly alone to rely upon ourselves. Few 

 points of interest were presented during the first 

 two or three days ; walrus were plentiful, dams with 

 a single young one, never more, the old ladies looking 

 grave and sedate as a matron need, the juveniles 

 frolicking about them as only young things can, 

 while here and there an old bull reared his massive 

 but unsightly head, garnished by a pair of tusks of 

 threatening dimensions. 



The midnight sun on the 26th glowed like a ball 

 of fire through the haze, and promised little for 

 genial warmth on his rising, and large flocks of wild 

 fowl, principally geese, passed us from time to time, 

 generally going seaward. Early in the morning of 

 the 21)th, we observed, on a point near Cape Smythc, 

 seven Esquimaux tents of seal-skin ; the inmates 

 were not observable, and we thought them probably 

 asleep or unconscious of our vicinity : not so, however ; 



