OLD WHALING DAYS. 95 



one charge of sparrow shot. The natives at that place catch 

 them in a net attached to a stick as they fly past the rocks. 

 When ships are detained on the east side until July they 

 often send their boats among the islands at the foot of the 

 glaciers, and I have known them gather one hundred and 

 twenty dozen loom and eider duck eggs at one venture. Such 

 times, however, are not profitable, but have a sorry look-out 

 for the whaler when pay-day comes. With the ice opening, 

 the ships made good progress in towing. The weather was 

 calm and clear until we reached the north part of the group 

 of Vrow Islands ; then a fine, easterly wind sprang up. We 

 set all sails, and took the boats on board after towing 

 sixteen hours, and were very thankful for a rest, being very 

 tired. We sailed, towed, and tracked, and eventually arrived 

 in Melville Bay. In due time we got into the north water off 

 Cape York, working up to Cape Dudley Digges before we 

 rounded the north point of the ice, and then crossed over in 

 sight of Coburg Island at the entrance of Jones' Sound. 

 Everybody was in high spirits with the expectation of getting 

 a full ship. Harpoons were cleaned, lances and knives 

 sharpened, guns prepared, and everything in readiness for 

 whaling. A fine breeze blowing from the northward, we 

 sailed merrily towards Lancaster Sound, when suddenly we 

 came to a solid body of unbroken ice, which formed into a 

 large, deep bight. We sailed to the end of it, and then 

 worked north to find a passage to the westward, but there 

 was no outlet. East, west, and south presented in turn 

 nothing but large, unbroken fields of ice, which sight 

 damped our spirits. A consultation was held by the 

 masters, which led to the conclusion that it was better to 

 return through the bay, and seek a passage further south. 

 The Jane, belonging to Bo'ness, and the Heroine, of 

 Dundee, were lost in Melville Bay this year, but we and the 

 others got safely back through it with very little trouble. 

 When off Duck Island, we encountered a gale of wind from 



