GENERAL VIEW OF HERSCHEL ISLAND. 



CHAPTER IX. 



ON HERSCHEL ISLAND AND FLAXMAN ISLAND. 



Herschel Island The Whaler's influence on the Natives Catching White 

 Whales or Seal The Natives Their life Departure from the Island 

 Storkersen left Sick Natives Start for Hula-Hula River Meet 

 Ned and his outfit Axel Anderson Return to Flaxman Island 

 Decide to leave for civilization Make preparations Farewell 

 festival. 



HERSCHEL ISLAND is a fairly big place, but it is rapidly 

 losing its importance. In the early nineties a man from Point 

 Hope, " Little Joe," had gone east in a whaling boat to trade, 

 and had seen numerous whales in the neighbourhood. When 

 he came back he told stories of this wonderful land, or rather 

 water, where the whales were lying about like logs, calm, 

 impassive, and apparently not afraid of anything. The next 

 year two steam whalers went in to Herschel Island and made 

 a splendid catch, and the year after that all the vessels flocked 

 to the place. They wintered there, to be on the spot when the 

 ice broke up, and as many as eleven ships, with a crew of more 

 than six hundred men, have at one time lain in shelter of the 

 sand-spits, which make a natural and splendid harbour. 



The whaling companies erected large, storehouses for coal 

 and provisions. A club-house was built for the benefit of the 

 officers; missionaries came into the country for the sake of 



