62 ADVENTURES IN THE NORTHERN SEAS. 



ble from the deck, we can generally, as long as it is 

 clear, see the sails of the sloop above the horizon. 



It cleared up about midnight for a brief interval, 

 and enabled us to get a beautiful view of the coast, 

 with its enormous glaciers sweeping out into the 

 sea in great semicircular arcs. There was plenty 

 of ice all round, but in very open order. Ryk Yse 

 Islands were visible to the north, among much 

 heavy ice, which seemed to be fixed around them. 

 We saw a small sloop several miles distant, and a 

 large seal asleep on an iceberg, about equidistant 

 from the other sloop and ourselves. Lord David 

 went in pursuit of it ; but we perceived from the 

 deck that the steersman had lost the bearings of the 

 seal, and was steering in a wrong direction. For 

 fear the other sloop should be before us, we then 

 hastily lowered my boat and rowed straight to the 

 seal. On nearing the phoca, he appeared quite 

 awake, and was looking nervously about him every 

 two or three minutes, so we rowed round so as to 

 get between him and the sun, which, although it 

 was exactly midnight, was high and bright in the 

 heavens. This dazzled his eyes so completely, that, 

 although he was wide awake, and looked straight 

 in our direction repeatedly, he could see nothing for 

 the glare, and he lay still until the boat approach- 

 ed to within about fifty yards, when my bullet per- 

 forated his cerebellum, and he sank motionless on 

 the ice. 



The' pursuit of the great Spitsbergen seal (P : 



