44 UNSUCCESSFUL AT FIRST. 



walruses was at an end ; and then, when they 

 were all scuffling pell-mell into the water, 

 accurate shooting &quot;became next to impossible. 

 Our want of success at first was also partly 

 attributable to not understanding the anatomy 

 of the animal, and hence imagining that his 

 brain lay in what appears to be his head, but 

 which is actually only the bony process support 

 ing the tusks ; the brain in reality lies far back, 

 and the back part of the head is completely 

 buried in the folds of fat or blubber surround 

 ing the neck. 



On the 7th the weather continued foggy, with 

 a cold north-east wind, and we made very little 

 progress against it : we are coasting along the 

 outside of this great ice-pack, which fills up 

 Deeva Bay, and embraces the whole archipelago 

 of the Thousand Islands. This, the east side 

 of the pack, has its edge clear and well-defined, 

 being packed tight by the joint influence of 

 the north-east wind lately prevailing, and the 

 current, which always sets more or less in the 

 same direction. When going in pursuit of the 

 walruses amongst the ice, it is sometimes very 

 difficult to get the boats through the ice at the 

 outer edge of the pack, where it is so closely 

 wedged together, and we generally have to drag 



