54 OLD WHALING DAYS. 



Esquimaux told us there was no end to it. Of course the 

 numerous fiords, glaciers, and islands held out no induce- 

 ment for them to go. Their hunting and fishing grounds 

 were nearer home. On the north side great icebergs were 

 very numerous. 



In course of time we again proceeded north, but were 

 longer on account of the ice lying so near to the land. 

 Whilst we were made fast to an iceberg off the settlement of 

 Upernavik, a volunteer boat's crew was formed to go to 

 the interior to get duck eggs. We returned with thirty 

 dozen, and a quantity of eider ducks, having been away 

 twenty hours. During our trip in the boat we witnessed an 

 interesting incident. A massive iceberg broke away from 

 the glacier with a tremendous crash. It roared and cracked 

 before it fell like artillery firing. The fall caused a heavy 

 swell to roll upon the small islands in the neighbourhood for 

 two or three miles. These little expeditions were called 

 pleasure excursions. We saw fresh places, and it was a 

 change from being cooped up on board ship. When a 

 volunteer boat's crew was called, there were four times the 

 number of men responded to it. By tracking, and principally 

 towing, we got as far as the Devil's Thumb, but no further. 

 Melville Bay had not broken up, and there was no appear- 

 ance of water, excepting the thin line to the southward. 

 As the season was growing late for getting to Pond's Bay, it 

 was resolved to retrace our way back. The innumerable 

 heavy icebergs aground, stretching far to the westward, up- 

 held the large floes, and it was an impossibility for us to 

 seek a passage through the Bay. We went south again. 

 It was surprising to see the alteration in the appearance 

 of the ice in so short a time. What were large floes and 

 apparently solid ice a month before, was now clear water. 

 In these northern climes the greatest drawback consisted of 

 long dense fogs, which made us very anxious, as they were 

 at all times dangerous. In coming south we kept along the 



