106 ADVENTURES IN THE NORTHERN SEAS. 



into the bay, the eastern end of one of them being 

 only separated from a projecting point of the main 

 shore by a strait about fifty yards broad. To the 

 north and northeast these islands were connected 

 with the shore by several square miles of "fast"* 

 ice of one winter's growth. Great numbers of seals 

 lay upon this sheet of ice, taking advantage of a 

 beautifully bright sunny day to bask, but we found 

 it next to impossible to shoot them. We tried a 

 great many times, but never could get nearer than 

 about 300 yards. I do not think the seals saw us 

 or smelled us, because we tried going to leeward, 

 and we tried giving them the sun in their eyes, and 

 we walked and crept as quietly as possible. I am 

 convinced that the well-known difficulty of getting 

 within shot of a seal on "fast" ice arises from the 

 sound or vibration made by one's feet being com- 

 municated to him along or through the ice. We 

 did succeed in making two or three successful long 

 shots, but, as each individual villain lay within six 

 inches of his hole, they all contrived to roll in be- 

 fore we got up to them. 



The white bear, as is well known, subsists prin- 

 cipally on seals, and he kills many of them on these 

 sheets of "fast" ice; but how he manages to get 

 within arm's length of them there is beyond what I 

 can understand. When the seals are floating about 

 on loose drift ice, Bruin's little game is obvious 

 enough. He " first finds his seal," by eyes or nose, 

 * Ice attached to the shore is so called. 



