152 TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 



ing, diving, and rolling over in the water, displaying 

 the marvellous swimming powers of which these un- 

 gainly brutes are capable. As we sailed to leeward of 

 them they approached within a hundred yards of the 

 vessel, a performance which we afterwards discovered 

 they would not have done had the wind been blowing 

 in the opposite direction, since they are very keen- 

 scenting animals, and, like most other wild beasts, are 

 terrified by the smell of a human being. 



The whole herd consisted of some fifty or sixty 

 bulls, and Macdonald informed us that at this period 

 of the year all the cows and young ones had gone far 

 north through the Bering Straits on the edge of the 

 ice. 



The bloodthirsty Cecily was all for trying a long- 

 range shot, as several of the huge brutes raised their 

 head and shoulders high out of the water, taking a 

 good look at the vessel. But she was at once dis- 

 suaded, since Macdonald declared that a dead walrus 

 immediately sinks, and there was no chance of getting 

 it ashore unless it has been killed and harpooned from 

 a boat, and thus towed to land. He said that our best 

 chance was to wait until the animals hauled themselves 

 out on dry land, as they often did. 



It required some skilful seamanship on the part of 

 Captain Clemsen to sail the Lily safely in between 

 the islands, as the entrance to the lagoon was very 

 narrow, and constant shifting of these sandbanks 

 renders all charts more or less unreliable. The wind 

 had almost died away, but fortunately what breeze 

 remained blew dead astern, so that we were enabled 



