"BEAUCOUP D'AROMA" 181 



head. After an early breakfast we watched the fog 

 lifting, and gradually we caught sight of the island, over 

 which a flock of thousands of black ducks was whirling 

 and circling. This island we computed to be some eight 

 or ten miles in length. It appeared to be exactly the 

 same sandy desert as Island No. 4, but we were told that 

 some persons who had visited it declare that grass grows 

 upon it. Unluckily for us its beacon had not been carried 

 off, only laid upon its side by the ice, so that in an hour's 

 time it was repaired and set up on its legs again and all 

 hands ordered back on board. Near it lay another dead 

 seal, apparently the common one, in a condition described 

 by Cocksure as having " beaucoup d'aroma." A few 

 herring and glaucous gulls were upon the island, and we 

 found two empty nests ; but what interested us most was 

 the presence of large parties of dunlins and small flocks 

 of sanderlings. Numbers of black ducks continually 

 passed like clouds overhead. The large flocks did not 

 come near enough for identification, but we made out 

 among smaller ones the long-tailed duck and the black 

 scoter, and were inclined to think that the large flocks 

 were composed of the latter species. 



At eight o'clock we had a more substantial breakfast 

 than that partaken of in the earlier hours, and then went 

 to lie down on sofas in the cabin. All day we drifted 

 down a sea almost as smooth as a mirror ; not a breath 

 of wind stirred during the night or day. We had also 

 left the mosquitoes behind, and only saw one or two after 

 leaving the delta of the Petchora. The steamer returned 

 to No. 4 Island as we slept to get into the right course 

 and deposit a " carabas " on the William Bank, and a long 

 pole (with a besom on the top and a stone at the foot) 

 upon the Alexander Bank. 



We commenced our next day at 4 P.M. It was a very 



