THIRD VOYAGE 349 



lost in the horizon, so that there can be no doubt of its being 

 a continuation of the American continent.. 



" Our situation was now more and more critical. We 

 were in shoal water, upon a lee shore, and the main body of 

 the ice to windward driving down upon us. I therefore 

 made the signal for the Discovery to tack, and tacked myself 

 at the same time. 



" Next day we had a good deal of drift ice about us, and 

 the main ice was about two leagues to the north. It was 

 too close and in too large pieces to attempt forcing the ships 

 through it. On the ice lay a prodigious number of sea- 

 horses, and as we were in want of fresh provisions the boats 

 from each ship were sent to get some. 



" Their fat at first is as sweet as marrow, but in a few days 

 it grows rancid unless it be salted, in which state it will keep 

 much longer. The lean flesh is coarse, black, and has 

 rather a strong taste ; and the heart is nearly as well tasted 

 as that of a bullock. The fat, when melted, yields a good 

 deal of oil, which burns very well in lamps, and their hides, 

 which are very thick, were very useful about our rigging. 

 The teeth, or tusks of most of them were at this time 

 very small ; even some of the largest and oldest of these 

 animals had them not exceeding six inches in length. 

 From this we concluded that they had lately shed their 

 old teeth. 



" They lie in herds of many hundreds upon the ice, 

 huddling one over the other like swine, and roar or bray very 

 loud, so that in the night or in foggy weather they gave 

 us notice of the vicinity of the ice before we could see it. 

 We never found the whole herd asleep some being always 

 upon the watch. These, on the approach of the boat, would 

 wake those next to them ; and the alarm being thus 

 gradually communicated, the whole herd would be awake 

 presently. They did not appear to us to be that dangerous 

 animal some authors have described, not even when 

 attacked. They are rather more so to appearance than in 

 reality. Vast numbers of them would follow and come 

 close up to the boats ; but the flash of a musket in the pan, 

 or even pointing one at them, would send them down in an 

 instant. The female, however, will defend the young one 

 to the very last, and at the expense of her own life, whether 

 in the water or upon the ice. Nor will the young one 

 quit the dam, though she be dead. 



" Why they should be called sea-horses is hard to say, 

 unless the word be a corruption of the Russian name 

 Morse, for they have not the least resemblance of a horse. 

 This is without doubt the same animal that is found in 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and there called sea-cow. It is 



