Chapter IX. 



MIDDLE ICE FISHING. 



JJNBA Y, June 15th. — Last night, before 

 going to bed, an inquisitive little seal 

 made its appearance in a small pool of 

 water astern, seeming to be monstrously 

 surprised at beholding such a clumsy and awkward- 

 looking animal as we must have appeared in com- 

 parison to itself. Poor little fellow ! it paid dearly 

 for its temerity. It is what the whalers call a "floe 

 rat," * is of a dark-greyish colour, and is about three 

 feet long. 



Our days, whilst fishing, are most uncertain, and 

 to-day has been no exception to the general rule. 



1 Phoca fcetida, or the Floe rat of English and Scotch sealers, 

 according to Dr. R. Brown, is the smallest of the Greenland 

 seals. It is chiefly looked upon and taken as a curiosity by 

 the whalers, and is considered of very little commercial im- 

 portance. It is called by them the "floe rat," as it is invari- 

 ably found on floes or swimming about in the smooth floe 



