HOKRIBLE SMELL OF THE CAEGO. 157 



to see many of them, as whenever they are in 

 numbers the walrus and the large seal seem 

 to disappear. 



One of our men says, that some years ago 

 the ship's company to which he at the time 

 belonged, killed 400 of these " springers " in 

 a single afternoon, by the simple process of 

 knocking them on the head with the "haak- 

 picks " as they lay on the ice near South Cape. 

 Crew cutting up blubber and scraping and 

 cleaning skulls of bears and walruses all the 

 afternoon. The latter process is a decidedly 

 unpopular occupation, which is not to be 

 wondered at, as it is very cold and tedious 

 work, and they are so averse to begin that 

 they generally leave the skulls until they are 

 in a state which certainly cannot add to the 

 pleasure of the operator. 



Our cargo altogether is beginning to get 

 so exceedingly high, that the chloride of lime 

 is quite overpowered or extinguished by the 

 effluvium, and we are compelled to have re- 

 course to the refinement of burning pastilles 

 in the cabin before we lay down to sleep. 

 Eancy pastilles in a sealing vessel ! 



^Otli. — Our young white bears have now 

 become brown, and are in a fair way to be- 



