196 ADVENTURES IN THE NORTHERN SEAS. 



rate of insurance is as high as seven per cent., al- 

 though one would think that even that was little 

 enough for the unavoidable risks of such a danger- 

 ous voyage, without taking into consideration the 

 impunity with which such nefarious proceedings as 

 I have alluded to may be committed in those dis- 

 tant waters. 



The 21st being Sunday, we staid on board, and I 

 wrote up the last few pages of this Journal. 



About 3 A.M. on the 2 2d we were aroused by a 

 report of many white whales being alongside. We 

 got up instantly, and jumped into the boats with 

 our rifles. There was a very dense fog, but the bay 

 seemed to be full of the whales, as we heard them 

 blowing all around the vessel. We pulled off into 

 the fog where the blowing seemed most frequent, 

 and soon found ourselves surrounded by twenty or 

 thirty of these animals, showing up their heads and 

 backs, and spouting. They were of a brilliant, shin- 

 ing, snowy whiteness, and when they were near us 

 we could see them swimming under water. We 

 lay on our oars, and I waited a little for a good 

 chance, until at last I saw a large one under water 

 approaching the boat. Holding my rifle ready at 

 my shoulder, I was quite prepared for him, and the 

 instant he appeared above the surface I shot him 

 through the head, immediately behind the blow- 

 holes. He disappeared in a cloud of foam and 

 blood, but, upon rowing quickly to the spot, I was 

 just in time to strike a walrus harpoon into him as 



