166 THE SEA. 



The site of the Croker Mountains was a year afterwards sailed over by Parry ! It is- 

 certain that either clouds, mirage, or some other phenomenon of nature, had misled him. 

 A very simitar fact was noted by Captain Nares in his expedition. 



The second of the two expeditions was that performed under the command of 

 Captain David Buchan, who had associated with him a number of officers, including 

 John Franklin, Frederick Beechey, and George Back, who afterwards distinguished them- 

 selves in various branches of the Arctic service. Buchan himself was a first-rate navigator, 

 particularly well acquainted with the dangers of the northern seas, more especially on the 

 Newfoundland station. He had also made a remarkable journey across the ice and snow 

 of that island in order to communicate with the natives, and was the first European who 

 had so done. Subsequent to the expedition about to be recorded, he lost his life on the 

 Upton Castle, a vessel making the voyage from India, and the exact fate of which was- 

 never known. 



The two vessels employed on this service were the Dorothea and the Trent. The instruc- 

 tions directed Buchan to proceed to the northward, between Spitsbergen and Greenland, 

 without delay on the way, and use his best endeavours to reach the North Pole or its neigh- 

 bourhood. On May 24th the expedition had reached Cherie Island, on the coasts of which 

 the walruses were so numerous that at about that period as many as 900 or 1,000 had 

 been captured by the crew of a single vessel in seven hours' time. Many interesting traits 

 of walrus character if the expression may be used were observed on this expedition. 

 " We were greatly amused/' says Captain Beechey, the historian of the voyage, " by the 

 singular and affectionate conduct of a walrus towards its young. In the vast sheet of ice 

 that surrounded the ships there were occasionally many pools, and when the weather was 

 clear and warm, animals of various kinds would frequently rise and sport about in them,, 

 or crawl from thence upon the ice to bask in the warmth of the sun. A walrus rose in 

 one of these pools close to the ship, and finding everything quiet, dived down and brought 

 up its young, which it held by its breast by pressing it with its flipper. In this manner 

 it moved about the pool, keeping in an erect posture, and always directing the face of the 

 young towards the vessel. On the slightest movement on board the mother released her 

 flipper and pushed the young one under water, but when everything was again quiet, 

 brought it up as before, and for a length of time continued to play about in the pool, to 

 the great amusement of the seamen, who gave her credit for abilities in tuition which, 

 though possessed of considerable sagacity, she hardly merited/' 



On May 28th, the weather being severe, with heavy fogs, the ships separated, to re- 

 join at Magdalena Bay, Spitzbergen, a few days later. The harbour was full of ice in a 

 rapidly decaying state. This bay is remarkable for four glaciers, the smallest of which, 

 called the Hanging Iceberg, is 200 feet above the sea-level at its termination. The 

 largest extends several miles inland, and, owing to the immense rents in its surface, was 

 called the Waggon Way. In the vicinity of the icebergs, which had become detached from 

 these glaciers, the observance of strict silence was necessary, and the concussion produced 

 by the discharge of a gun (not its " explosion/' as Sir John Barrow says) would often 

 detach large masses. Beechey notes the effects of such a discharge : A musket had 

 been fired at half a mile distance, which not merely brought down an immense piece of 



