POLAR BEAR AT HERALD ISLAND 107 



bulked large at two hundred yards distance and stank 

 from afar. Off to leeward the Captain showed us the 

 meeting place of two opposing wdnds, indicated aloft by 

 mare's tails aiming toward each other at their upper 

 ends. 



"There," said he, pointing out a differently colored 

 patch of sky near the water between the mare's tails, 

 "is a flat calm, where the air currents meet." 



By adding a cap, buttoned over my ears, to the 

 duffle worn the night before, and throwing a fur parka 

 on the blankets in addition to the overcoat, I slept snug 

 and warm. The gale was moderating, but we were still 

 one hundred and twenty miles from Wrangell. 



"Ice ahead!" 



This cry from the crow's nest, a barrel lashed to the 

 rigging of the main mast, brought all hands on deck. 

 Nothing was visible from below, but less than an hour 

 raised the gleaming horizon of white on all sides but 

 that from which we had come. It was about noon, and 

 after dinner I climbed aloft to enjoy the great spectacle. 

 The morning had broken clear and smmy with a mod- 

 erate breeze W. by S. and we were steering N. by W. 

 Now, however, a light fog, accompanied by snow flakes, 

 shut out an extensive view, but revealed a majestic frame 

 of low-lying ice floes far and near. 



The Arctic ice-pack north of Siberia and Alaska is 

 characteristically low because almost entirely formed on 

 the level sea surface, and where we saw it the base was 

 from two to ten feet above water. About one-seventh 

 or one-eighth of the bulk swam above the sea; the 

 underbody reached far down into the depths. But its 

 surface was very rough and in places great blocks stood 

 on end or were laid layer above layer where the grinding 



