226 WHALING AND BEAR-HUNTING 



stronger Finners we are not prepared. I have written about 

 these in a previous chapter about the special tackle re- 

 quired to master their enormous strength. "Modern whales," 

 I call them, or Finners, the largest animal that exists in this 

 world, or ever has existed, up to one hundred and twenty 

 feet ; longer than the prehistoric Diplodocus. The Balean 

 whale or Mysticetus that used to be fished here, and which 

 has grown so scarce, though it is generally depicted destroy- 

 ing boats, is a fat, leisurely "fish " compared to these bigger 

 and more active Finners, but alas, he is now not only scarce 

 but is also very shy and wary. 



Forty-five miles we plod along, with northerly strong wind, 

 and pass two of what they call icebergs here " ice chips " 

 down South a grey sky ribbed like sea-sand overhead, with 

 the light off snow land on the sky ; a yellowish cold glare 

 to the westward ; that is Greenland, and we at last pull up 

 against the land-floe. It is just the same as the big sea- 

 floes which we have been amongst, still it is against the land ! 

 Twenty-five miles of it we guess ; when the haze over it lifts 

 we shall see Greenland's icy mountains. The days of heat 

 and basking in the blooming saxifrage and yellow poppies 

 seem still far away. But patience if you wait for ever so 

 long you sometimes get your heart's desire. 



The strong wind from north and west is cutting off bits 

 of this land-floe of all sizes, from a yard wide to a mile or 

 two, and so taking them down to cool our north temperate 

 zone. I wish the process had begun sooner, so that we 

 now might be nearer land in shallow soundings looking for 

 walrus. I sincerely desire to see them, as I think my 

 heavy '475 would have the chance of its life as against 

 the smaller bore rifles we have with us. You have to shoot 

 them, then harpoon them before they sink ; when one is 

 harpooned the others rally round and there is wild work. 

 Whales, musk oxen and walrus, coupled with a bee humming 

 in the Greenland meadows, is my desire. It is said there are 

 mosquitoes, but for none of the breed have I any desire, 

 either little or big, from Bassein Creek or Seringapatam. 

 They do say, however, that the Greenland specimen does 

 not have any fever on its proboscis. 



