WALRUS-SHOOTING IN WHALE SOUND 



ing off with terrific reports in the form of icebergs ; and beyond 

 glacier and cHff , gHmpses of the great ghttering ice-cap which 

 fills the interior of this bleak, rock- and ice-bound continent. 

 Huge icebergs of all imaginable shapes, and of many shades of 

 color, dotted the quiet surface of the water, and a sprinkling of 

 flat pans, floes, and rotten trash-ice stretched in all directions. 



Occasionally, in the open water to the westw^ard, a thin jet 

 of spray, followed by a glimpse of a huge, glistening black 

 body rolling over in the sea, and a forked tail throwing up a 

 cloud of spray as it struck the water, denoted where a whale 

 had come to the surface for air. Several times a number of 

 smaller jets of spray and an occasional view of a mottled gray 

 back showed us where a school of narwhals were swimming 

 just beneath the surface of the sea. On many floes, seals of 

 several species basked in the cold rays of the Arctic sun. To 

 the westward black wedges of eider-ducks were moving south 

 in a steady stream; small and compact flocks of swift-flying 

 guillemots, loons, and little auks were continually whistling 

 by the vessel ; while terns, kittew^akes, and large Burgomeister 

 gulls were circling overhead in the clear, cold sky. 



The Diana showed abundant indications of hard usage and 

 recent activity, as well as the expectation of immediate and 

 continued excitement. Her smoke- and dirt-begrimed condi- 

 tion, the bloody decks, rows of walrus heads and skulls, and 

 tons of dark-red walrus meat cut into square slabs by the 

 Eskimos, and filling most of the fore part of the vessel, were 

 sufficient evidence of the first. The members of the expedition, 

 who were lounging about the decks cleaning firearms or scan- 

 ning the horizon with field-glasses, and the Eskimo hunters,, 

 sharpening harpoons and overhauling kayaks and their hunt- 

 ing-tackle, could vouch for the second. Several hours after 

 turning southward, when opposite the picturesque, bold bluff 

 of Northumberland Island, known as Josephine Headland, the 

 lookouts discovered numerous pans occupied by herds of walrus 



