20 BEAR Oil CHERIE ISLAND. 



Bear or Cherie Island, so called, I presume, on 

 the Incus a non lucendo principle, because 

 it certainly produces neither bears nor cherries 

 at the present day. I believe the real reasons 

 for its nomenclature are, that some of the early 

 Dutch navigators, on their way to China, once 

 saw a bear here, and that an English expedi 

 tion, sent out by Alderman Cherie of London, 

 afterwards erroneously fancied that they were 

 the discoverers of the island, and tried to sup 

 plant its original name by that of their patron. 

 There is said to be plenty of good coal cropping 

 out of a precipice on the island. 



Although this was the third time that I have 

 passed close by Bear Island, I had never yet 

 actually been able to see it, as it is generally 

 shrouded by impenetrable mist. One can, how 

 ever, always tell when you approach it by the 

 enormous quantities of gulls, puffins, guil 

 lemots, razor-bills, divers, &c., which use it 

 as a sort of headquarters and nursery, and 

 afford to the mariner a perfect index to its 

 proximity.* 



The thermometer here fell to 36, and a fresh 



* Bear Island is inaccurately laid down on the charts ; 

 its actual longitude being 19 east from Greenwich, and 

 not 20 east, as the charts make it. 



