168 RISK OP SUDDEN FOGS. 



we rowed accordingly for two hours and a 

 quarter : I then thought we must have made 

 the distance, so I fired two shots into the air, 

 and was immediately answered hy the people 

 on board the sloop; we had hit her off to 

 within half a mile ! The instinct of these 

 people in finding their way in a fog almost 

 equals that of savages in traversing a pathless 

 forest ; but for all that the greatest risk which 

 these arctic hunters run, is that of being sur 

 prised by fog amongst the ice when at a dis 

 tance from their vessel. The most usual 

 expedient, when practicable, is to go ashore 

 and light a fire, and await with what patience 

 one can, the abatement of the fog. This in my 

 case was out of the question, as the inac 

 cessible ice-cliffs of the great glacier were the 

 only shore within fifteen miles of us, and 

 Ryk-Yse Island, which was the nearest land, 

 would have been as difficult to find as the 

 sloop itself. 



When I got on board, Lord David s boat was 

 still out, so we fired repeated signals from our 

 little cannon, heavily charged, and with a wad 

 of walrus blubber to increase the report, but 

 they did not rejoin us until after midnight. 



They had been close to Ryk-Yse Island 



