108 ADVENTURES IN THE NORTHERN SEAS. 



are on the ice, as very many of these seals in all 

 probability never saw a man or a boat in all their 

 lives. 



When there are bears in the neighborhood the 

 seals are always much more difficult of access, and 

 the hunters, consequently, entertain a deep antip- 

 athy to "Gamle Eric, 11 and never omit an oppor- 

 tunity of putting a bullet into him, even if in cir- 

 cumstances where they can not get possession or 

 make use of him when dead. 



We hunted round all the open sides of these isl- 

 ands in the boats, then landed and walked up on to 

 the highest part of the islands to see if there was 

 any ice farther up the bay : none was visible from 

 the rocks. 



On the top of one island I found part of a whale's 

 skeleton at an elevation of forty feet or upward 

 above the sea. The bones were a good deal decay- 

 ed, and were partly overgrown with moss, as if they 

 had lain there for very many years. 



I shot a small seal, which sank in water about 

 fifteen feet deep, but it being quite clear, I managed 

 to fish him up from the bottom by tying the shafts 

 of two harpoons together. Lord David disturbed 

 a bear among the rocks, which took to the water 

 without his seeing it ; but the man in charge of the 

 boat saw him and called to his lordship, who then 

 ran back to the boat, pursued the bear, and killed 

 him in the water. 



Deeva Bay is marked in the charts as being un- 



