IX THE DRIFT-ICE OFF THE COAST OF GREENLAND. 11 



with its physical conditions of warmth. When capturing the 

 bladder-nose, the ' watchman,' if possible, should always be shot 

 first, as then the others are bewildered, and the whole herd can 

 be made an end of without difficulty. On the other hand, if 

 one of them be wounded only, the ' watchman ' immediately takes 

 to the water, and all the others follow after it. 



Fosheim shot his first bladder-nose in the evening, and next 

 morning he killed a second one. He used a Krag- Jorgensen rifle 

 of '256 bore, and a long hard-nosed bullet. He blazed away at 

 the unfortunate animal several times before he was able to 

 kill it, and we came to the conclusion that for bladder-nose long 

 expansion bullets are the best; they are absolutely certain, and 

 make terrible wounds, especially when they meet bone. Fosheim's 

 second bladder- nose finally writhed itself into the water, and, 

 enraged by its wounds, made straight for the vessel with inflated 

 bladder, and uttering hoarse roars. But we saw that it had had 

 enough and left it alone whilst we lowered a boat; we then 

 threw a line round its body, just behind the flippers, and 

 hauled it aboard. It was a male of medium size. 



Bay, too, shot his first bladder-nose on this occasion, and we 

 could easily have shot more the following day, but we had not 

 much time for sport, and therefore bade them good-bye. They just 

 raised their heads and gazed wonderingly at us as we passed by, 

 and then lay down again to bask in the sunshine. 



The greater part of the flesh we preserved for the dogs, in 

 barrels and boxes, but the steward undertook to serve a bladder-nose 

 steak from the best parts, and in some mysterious manner managed 

 to turn out an appetizing dish. The dogs, on the other hand, did 

 not seem very keen about their unusual food. They were 

 Norwegian elk-dogs, which I had bought in Indherred, as I wished 

 to try how they would do as sledge-dogs, and it was the first time 

 they had had their teeth in seal-flesh. They looked much offended 

 and made every possible excuse, but by degrees the meat dis- 

 appeared, and soon they began to eat it with avidity. 



The following day, Tuesday, July 19, we were again surrounded 

 by huge floes of ice as far as the eye could see. Between the floes 

 were lanes of smooth water through which the ' Fram ' had slowly 



