120 A "Mollie" on Board. 



whales ; plenty to drink and plenty of smoking. 

 From the masters downwards all seemed to be 

 known, and their individual merits and qualifica- 

 tions were severally discussed. 



The topic of conversation was of course the 

 whale fishery; no fish has as yet been seen, but 

 they all seem to concur in one opinion, namely, 

 that it is a fine open season, and they are unani- 

 mous in predicting a successful slaughter amongst 

 the whales. They had all a good passage through 

 Melville Bay, and are only two or three days 

 ahead of us. From conversation that I had with 

 some of these captains I learnt with great satisfac- 

 tion that they already deeply regretted having 

 signed, some few months previous to their sailing, 

 a paper at Dundee, advocating the route by Spitz- 

 bergen as being the best adapted for reaching the 

 North Pole. They were drawn into the act by one 

 of the whaling masters. They are now entirely 

 in favour of the route via Smith's Sound, which 

 they are most decidedly of opinion, and they are 

 willing to give their ideas publicity, is the best 

 and perhaps the only way by which the Pole may 

 be reached. 



Saturday, June 14<th. — The day before yester- 

 day, seeing a large open water some distance to the 

 southward, steam was raised, and leaving the re- 

 mainder of the whaling fleet, we forced our way 

 through the ice, eventually entering what appeared 

 a splendid " water." 



