WHALING AND BEAR-HUNTING 221 



our ends, rough hew them how we will." Perhaps, without 

 any claim to originality, we may, under the circumstances, 

 be allowed to conclude, from the above combination of 

 circumstances, that the world is small. 



So the snow had other red than the bear's. Gisbert got 

 his " first aid " out within a second of the time I had got my 

 own, he is very quick : but the captain was first with his, 

 and Archie administered a small tot of medicine from three 

 bens and three glens which he had brought in a little flask 

 all the way from Arthur Lodge, Edinburgh. It will be a 

 sell if I cannot go on one foot after the next bear or 

 whale. 



About these North Polar basin currents we have many 

 interesting talks, for De Gisbert has studied them for many 

 years. He has asked me to accompany the Spanish expedi- 

 tion in the vessel which will accompany his Spanish Govern- 

 ment ship as far as Cape Tsdieljulskin. This possibly 

 because as an artist he is so well content with trying to 

 depict effects of his " end of the garden," most possibly 

 because his, Gisbert 's, wife and child are to go so far, 

 and as she is a Campbell-Gibson she naturally dotes on the 

 bagpipes. 



At night the mist cleared up a little and we made some 

 miles to west, pushing through floes. When we came to a 

 blue fresh- water pool on one, we again set to work and bailed 

 our tanks full of fresh water. 



Then on again, charging the floes with many a bump, 

 which is rather alarming to those of our party who are not 

 salted to such shocks. We hope the floes won't close up 

 behind us altogether, but when you enter the pack, as the 

 whalers say, " there's no looking over the shoulder," and 

 one must take risks in all occupations. 



To-day we had a splendid bear chase, none the worse 

 because our prey escaped. The morning was exquisite, the 

 mist rose and lay in lavender wisps across the distance of 

 the floes, and the sun shone and the sea became a cheery 

 glittering dark blue, and you could hardly keep your eyes 



