u6 HUNTERS AND HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



southerly direction. The water became shal- 

 lower, and at last we were compelled to land 

 on a beach of frozen clay, smooth and even 

 as the Marisma near Seville. It is astonishing 

 how lands so wide apart and so differently 

 constituted resemble each other. The clay 

 was the same, cracked where it had become 

 dry, each depression holding water and forming 

 little lagoons. Swimming in one of these 

 lakes we observed a brace of Arctic ducks, 

 which, seeing us, took to wing and flew towards 

 the sea. We surmised that we would find the 

 nest of these birds in the lagoon where we had 

 surprised them, and decided to make a search on 

 our return. On a cliff top I also saw one of 

 those ducks, resembling a mandarin in appear- 

 ance, which are known as the ' Beggars of the 

 Arctic/ I chanced a shot, but failed to bring 

 it down. 



Everywhere we encountered the whitened 

 bones of belugas, dating, it appeared, from those 

 days when the Russians came chasing these 

 cetaceans. It is well known that these white 

 whales seek the seclusion of the bays, and are 

 netted. Lowe Sound is in every way convenient 

 for such fishing. A bed of dry clay displayed 

 fresh traces of reindeer, and, unluckily, of 

 human beings also. Ice, indeed, cannot protect 



