OLD WHALING DAYS. 85 



to make her roll backward and forward until the ship was 

 clear, when we began to track to the southward. The 

 following day we reached the Duck Islands in company 

 with the Isabel, from which we received letters, papers, and 

 little delicacies which our friends had sent us. Our 

 Melville Bay troubles were soon forgotten. With our sails 

 set and in clear water our spirits rose like a barometer after 

 a gale, and we made the best of our way further south, 

 judging there would be no opening in the ice until we got 

 down to Cape Searle or thereabouts. Such was the case, 

 and we crossed over to the West Land, arriving shortly after 

 the other ships, which left some time before us. We got 

 into the west water off Cape Searle, and proceeded to the 

 northward. Fogs in the Arctic Regions are very frequent, 

 and sometimes last more than a week. A good prospect 

 may be before us when a dense fog suddenly sets in, and we 

 are liable to take a wrong opening, thereby losing the only 

 chance of a successful voyage. Nil desperandum was our 

 motto. We sailed on until we arrived off Scott's Inlet, and 

 dodged to and fro, but saw very few whales. Two or three 

 were fired at, and missed. We cruised about with the 

 Isabel among the middle ice, the other ships having gone 

 further north towards Pond's Bay, and, if possible, to 

 Lancaster Sound, but the season was too far advanced for 

 that place. One day we saw a great number of sword-fish. 

 Whenever these appear, no whales, unicorns, or any other 

 denizens of the deep are to be found. The northern sword- 

 fish is one of the largest kind of the whale family. I have 

 seen them about 25 feet long, or perhaps longer. When 

 those fish are seen on the fishing grounds, whales, seals, etc., 

 vacate the place. They have a long, sharp, upright fin on 

 the top of the back. Those fins are about six or seven feet 

 long on the larger fish, which has earned for them the name 

 of sword-fish. These enormous creatures come to the surface 

 to breathe, like other whales, and move more in a zig-zag 



