22 



NEW LAND. 



sides. We then began to burn blubber, until the pungent smell 

 penetrated all over the vessel. No bears, however, allowed them- 

 selves to be enticed by this delicious odour, greatly to the 

 disappointment of those of the ' Fram ' men who had not yet made 

 acquaintance with the polar world's noblest beast of prey. 



We did our best to while away the time of waiting by shooting 

 seals, also black guillemots and little auks, which were migrating 



AN IDYL OX THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 



from the north in flocks, and sometimes settled in the channels in 

 the ice near the vessel. 



The ice was thin and fragile, so that in order to get any distance 

 we had to take the ' pram ' with us ; but it was almost impossible in 

 this way to get within range of the wary seals. In a large channel 

 to the north-west, however, Bay succeeded in killing a harbour seal ; 

 but, as we so often found afterwards in shooting seals or walrus 

 in the water, if the animal was not exceedingly fat, it sank to the 

 bottom like a stone, and that was what happened in the present 

 instance. 



