102 ICK-ROUND ON KOLGUEV 



And again : — 



It happened once during foggy weather on the ice at Wahlen- 

 berg Bay that the bear that was expected, and had been clearly 

 seen by all of us, instead of approaching with his usual supple 

 zigzag movements, and with his ordinary attempts to nose 

 himself to a sure insight into the fitness of the foreigners for 

 food, just as the marksman took aim, spread out gigantic wings 

 and flew away in the form of a small ivory gull. Another time 

 during the same sledge journey we heard from the tent in which 

 we rested, the cook, who was employed outside, cry out, 'A 

 bear ! a great bear ! No ! a reindeer, a very little reindeer ! ' 

 The same instant a well-directed shot was fired, and the bear- 

 reindeer was found to be a very small fox, which thus paid with 

 its life for the honour of having for some moments played the 

 part of a big animal. From these accounts it may be seen how 

 difficult navigation among drift-ice must be in unknown waters.' 1 



Well, we were constantly taken in in the same way. 



To-day, for instance, we were just coming up, as we 

 thought, to a large lake when, turning to Hyland, who 

 was following some little way behind, I said, ' Look 

 there. That is the first swan we have seen since we left 

 the Kriva.' 



'So it is, sir,' answers Hyland. 'We must try and 

 shoot that.' 



I took the ' number 6 ' out of my gun and slipped in a 

 brass cartridge with S.S.G. 



Presently — ' That 's not a swan, but an old cock willow- 

 grouse with his head up,' I remarked. Hyland assented. 

 (Polonius and the cloud.) 



1 Nordenskiold, Voyage of the Vega, vol. i. p. 348. 



