and the whales enter many of the narrow 

 bays to feed abundantly on the shoaling fish. 

 But when the tide turns at last, and the ice 

 comes drifting back, the huge creatures leave 

 the bays, fearing to be shut in by a bar- 

 rier of ice to the whalemen's mercies. And 

 though there be a dozen whales in the bay, 

 as many miles apart, they generally turn all 

 at the same instant, as if at command, and 

 head swiftly out to the open sea and safety. 



Where the Straits grew narrow and the 

 floating ice threatened to block our way alto- 

 gether, we saw another curious bit of Levia- 

 than's precaution. He would stand straight 

 up on end, appearing like a huge black spile 

 rising ten or fifteen feet above the water, and 

 look far ahead over the nearer ice floes to 

 see if the Straits were blocked. And if the 

 survey were unsatisfactory, he would dive 

 deep and come up with a terrific rush, breach- 

 ing his entire length out of water, for one 

 swift look far ahead to see whether his course 

 were clear. 



Still later, when we had at last doubled 

 Cape Bauld with its fog and ice and were g 



287 



Out of /fie 



t#lT^ 



