BY SLEDGE AND KAYAK 313 



Johansen had to take him home again. The dogs seem 

 to be attacked with a paralysis of the legs ; they fall 

 down, and have the greatest difTficulty in rising. It has 

 been the same with all of them, from ' Gulen ' downward. 

 ' Kaifas,' however, is as fresh and well as ever. 



"It is remarkable how large these cubs were. I 

 could hardly imagine that they were born this year, and 

 should without hesitation have put them down as a year 

 old if the she-bear had not been in milk, and it is hardly 

 to be supposed that the cubs would suck for a year and a 

 half. Those we shot by the Fraiii on November 4th 

 last year were hardly half the size of these. It would 

 seem as if the polar bear produces its young at different 

 times of the year. In the paunches of the cubs were 

 pieces of skin from a seal. 



"Monday, July 15th. As we were working at the 

 kayaks yesterday a Ross's gull [Rhodostcthia rosea) came 

 flying by. It was a full-grown bird, and made a turn 

 when just over us, showing its pretty rose -colored 

 breast, and then disappeared again in the mist southward. 

 On Thursday I saw another adult Ross's gull, with a 

 black ring round its neck ; it came from the northeast, 

 and flew in a southwesterly direction. Otherwise it is 

 remarkable how all the birds have disappeared from here. 

 The little auk is no longer to be seen or heard ; the only 

 birds are an ivory-gull now and then, and occasionally a 

 fulmar. 



" Wednesday, July 17th. At last the time is drawing 



