IN THE MELVILLE BAY PACK 29 



his leg will be as good as it ever was, he refuses to consider 

 the idea of returning on the "Kite"; as for myself, now 

 that we have started, I want to keep on too. The air is 

 almost black with flocks of the little auk, and a party on the 

 ice to-day brought in sixteen birds in a very short time. 



Wednesday, July 22. Drs. Hughes and Sharp brought in 

 sixty-four birds as the result of an all-night catch. We are still 

 in the ice, with no signs of our getting out, although the cap- 

 tain says we have drifted twenty miles to the northward since 

 Monday morning. We are now abreast of Conical Rock. 

 Second Mate Dunphy has just reported seeing from the crow's- 

 nest a steamer off Cape York, but it is not visible to the 

 naked eye, and we are in doubt as to what it is. 



Friday, July 24. The steamer did not materialize ; either 

 the mate was mistaken or the vessel drifted away from us. 

 The ice parted early yesterday morning, much to everybody's 

 relief, and we have since been pushing steadily on our course. 

 The long line of table-topped bergs off Cape York, some of 

 which measured not less than two hundred to three hundred feet 

 in height, and perhaps considerably over a mile in length, is 

 visibly moving over to the American waters, and to this dis- 

 rupting force we are doubtless largely indebted for our libera- 

 tion. The scenery of this portion of the Greenland coast is 

 surpassingly fine. The steep red-brown cliffs are frequently 

 interrupted by small glaciers reaching down to the water's 

 edge. The entrance to Wolstenholme Sound, guarded as it 

 was by huge bergs, was particularly beautiful. Saunders 



