A NATURALISTS ADVENTURES 



of whaling voyages and told us of many adventures and 

 sights. He has twice seen a whale suckle its young. 

 Once a whale which yielded 40 barrels of oil was seen in 

 the act of sucking; the mother was turned on her side and 

 back, and the young one was athwartships. At this time, 

 the mother, the male and the young, were all caught, and 

 the three made two hundred and fifty barrels of oil. 



Captain Owens also told how he once had a lance struck 

 through a polar bear; the line fouled and the headway of 

 his boat was such that the bear was suddenly jerked along- 

 side and quite close to the captain. The bear immediately 

 struck at the boat and carried away the ribbon. The 

 captain fired a big cartridge at him, but missed several 

 times. They finally managed to get the line clear, and 

 then easily kept out of the way of the bear, which soon 

 weakened from its wound and was at last killed by a ball. 



The captain told us, too, of an encounter with a fighting 

 sperm whale which came for the boat with his jaws open 

 and thrashing from side to side. An iron was driven into 

 his case when he immediately closed his mouth and then 

 shoved the boat a long way ahead of him. Another iron 

 was driven into his mouth which caused him to turn on 

 his side, and a third iron was put into his life. 



Captain Fisher told us when we were aboard the 

 " Hunter " of a polar bear in Hudson Bay which came for 

 his boat and was stopped at the bow by a lance driven into 

 his vitals. Said Captain Fisher: "The head of a whale- 

 boat is a hard thing to face." 



Captain Gilley, of the " Julia A. Long," said that walrus 

 are plentiful on the beach of Hall Island. You can shoot 

 the walrus on the beach while the bears are up on the cliff 

 watching for a chance to kill walrus; you turn round and 

 shoot the bear and he rolls down the cliff. 



Captain Owens says that walrus are as much as six feet 

 long before the tusks come through much. He has seen 

 female walrus clasp their young in their flippers, to protect 

 them from bears. 



Friday, September 17 

 Early in the morning the steamer " Mary and Helen " 

 took us in tow and carried us well out of the bay, after 



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