GET NEAR HOPE ISLAND. 143 



consoled him by the promise of another of equal 

 value. 



There is plenty of fine ice in sight to-day, but we 

 have unknowingly drifted too far from the coast, 

 where the water is too deep for walruses, as these 

 animals can not descend in more than about twenty- 

 five fathoms, and they prefer fifteen or even ten 

 fathoms. We discovered our mistake by getting a 

 glimpse of the mountains of Hope Island, and im- 

 mediately stood in to the westward toward the 

 shore of Spitzbergen, now distant about twenty- 

 five miles. 



In the afternoon we put off in both boats to hunt 

 among the ice. I had shot two seals, besides an- 

 other which, although shot dead, rolled off the ice 

 in his dying convulsions and sank, when suddenly 

 we descried a bear standing on an iceberg at some 

 distance off, and, the ice being tolerably open, it 

 soon became obvious that his minutes were num- 

 bered, and that we were sure of him. He stood on 

 the iceberg coolly looking at us for some time, and 

 at last he slid deliberately backward into the wa- 

 ter, and began swimming away from us as fast as 

 he could. The boat speedily overhauled him, and 

 when we got about fifty yards from him, he turned 

 round and swam straight at the boat. I called to 

 the men to lay on their oars, and I waited until the 

 bear, roaring and showing his teeth, swam up to 

 about ten yards from the boat, when I shot him 

 through the front of the head and killed him. 



