54 BTK TSE ISLANDS. 



the oar or the harpoon as yet; he makes a 

 most excellent and careful ship-keeper, and we 

 never have any uneasiness about being lost 

 while we know that he is on deck : it must be 

 rather dull work for him, being on deck alone 

 for whole days, with the topsail aback, while 

 the boats are miles out of sight in the ice. 

 We haye ordered him to hoist the flag if he 

 should see a bear or a herd of walruses while 

 we are absent, as, although the boats may 

 not be visible from the deck, we can generally, 

 as long as it is clear, see the sails of the sloop 

 above the horizon. 



It cleared up about midnight for a brief in 

 terval, and enabled us to get a beautiful view 

 of the coast, with its enormous glaciers, sweep 

 ing out into the sea in great semi-circular 

 arcs : there was plenty of ice all round, but 

 in very open order. Ryk Yse Islands were 

 visible to the north, amongst much heavy ice, 

 which seemed to be fixed around them. We 

 saw a small sloop several miles distant, and a 

 large seal asleep on an iceberg, about equi 

 distant from the other sloop and ourselves. 

 Lord David went in pursuit of it, but we 

 perceived from the deck that the steers 

 man had lost the bearings of the sea! 3 and 



