212 THE CHILDREN OF THE COLD. 



While in the fall the whalers patiently 

 wait for the ice to form, so as to house 

 themselves in, they do not in the spring 

 wait for the ice to melt before getting to 

 work catching whales that are sporting 

 on the outside of the still frozen har- 

 bors ; so they cut a channel, wide enough 

 for the ship, through the ice from the 

 open water to alongside the vessel, and 

 she is then floated out. In the harbor at 

 Marble Island, the work of cutting a 

 channel only half a mile long occupied 

 three weeks, each crew working six 

 hour, night and day. But, as you proba- 

 bly know already, the night is as light as 

 the day, in the Arctic spring. 



