68 LOSE A FINE BULL. 



■\yitli fine tusks, by himself sound asleep on a 

 small sloping piece of ice, and I went in Solo- 

 mon's boat to attack liim. The shape of the 

 iceberg would not permit us to approach with- 

 in stabbing distance of the bull, but as he was 

 not more than five yards from the bow of the 

 boat, I very foolishly did not fire, as I con- 

 sidered the harpoon a certainty, but to my 

 utter disgust and astonishment, Solomon threw 

 two harpoons one after the other, and missed 

 the huge animal with both : the walrus awoke 

 at the sound the second harpoon made on the 

 ice, and was into the sea like a shot. The rest 

 of the boat's crew were as much annoyed as 

 myself, and anathematised the unhappy Solo- 

 mon in every language spoken in Scandinavia. 

 I believe I added some strongish expressions in 

 English. We made up our minds to disrate 

 Solomon if this occurs again, and to try an- 

 other of the crew as harpooner instead of him. 

 IMh. — North-east wind, thick fog, and hard 

 frost, all the rigging encased with icicles. 

 Hitherto all our skins, with the blubber at- 

 tached, had been thrown into the hold "in 

 bulk," but they have now accumulated so as 

 to render it necessary that the blubber should 

 be divided from the skins and stowed in the 



