THE WALRUS 149 



nurses to life. We could plainly hear the 

 calls of the mergules nesting on the summit 

 of the cliff. 



Unexpectedly the mist rose, and there before 

 us lay Young Sound, closed by an enormous 

 ridge of bay ice extending from Royal Society 

 Island to Nansen Island, and forming one 

 side of the canal we were navigating. As the 

 sun gradually appeared, kissing to life the world 

 about us, and sprinkling the ice and snow with 

 diamonds, the landscape assumed a grand and 

 majestic character, which, although savage, was 

 not without charm. My first impression had 

 been one of awful desolation; now I was im- 

 pressed by the imposing aspect of this dead 

 land covered completely with a white shroud, 

 and I was compensated for having persevered. 

 I believe that only in this archipelago does 

 one encounter islands covered completely with 

 snow descending right into the sea, leaving 

 only a few spots where basalt may be 

 seen with a slip of beach formed of rounded 

 pebbles. 



Finding Young Sound barred by bay ice, be- 

 hind which J eff erson Island was quite inaccessible, 

 and feeling a stiff breeze arising which promised 

 a wild night, we agreed, the commander and 

 myself, that it would be unwise to anchor in 



