96 OLD WHALING DAYS. 



the S.W., with thick snow and a nasty sea, which a short 

 time previously had been covered with ice. It is almost 

 incredible what great changes will suddenly take place in 

 this country. 



To the westward of the islands a deep bight remained, 

 in which I afterwards heard that Captain McClintock 

 entered after he had left us at Upernavik, and arrived easily 

 on the west side. If we had known that, our prospects 

 would have been different, but in sailing ships our safety lies 

 in having hold of the fast ice or land floe. Getting beset 

 amongst loose floes or in a pack is sometimes a serious 

 thing. However, we kept working our way south until 

 abreast of Cape Searle. The weather had been so foggy that 

 we could not get sight of any slack places in the ice until now. 

 We succeeded in getting into the west water, and proceeded 

 north until we came to Agnes Monument, a little north of 

 the river Clyde, which is a noted place for whales. Several 

 were seen, and two were fired at without effect. We cruised 

 among the middle ice, which lay in a favourable position. 

 Only a few straggling fish were seen here. Some ships got one 

 or two. The weather continued so foggy that we could do 

 nothing but ply to and fro. We shot several bears. One 

 particular event occurred which shews that such savage 

 animals have parental feelings. I went after an old bear 

 and two large cubs, which were in open water. The young 

 ones could not swim fast enough, so the old bear always 

 kept between us and her cubs, occasionally turning round to 

 growl and give the young ones time to get further away. So 

 long as they were swimming in the direction of the ship we 

 made no attempt to kill them, as it would save us the 

 trouble of towing. Suddenly the old one turned upon us, 

 and I had scarcely time to shoot her before she was at the 

 bow of the boat. The young cubs, seeing the mother lie 

 motionless, turned back and dived under her head to lift it 

 up, but, finding she would not respond to their caresses, 



