JUNE 22 TO AUGUST ij, iSgs ^17 



they meanwhile resting cahnly on the snow, and regarding him 

 with intense admiration. Finally they flew away, accompanied 

 by sundry blessings from the hunter, who was exasperated at 

 his " mishap," as he called it. The eye-witnesses of the bom- 

 bardment had another idea of the " mishap," and many were 

 the jokes that rained down upon the fellow when lie returned 

 empty-handed. 



However, Pettersen soon became an ardent sportsman, and 

 declared that one of the first things he would do when he re- 

 turned home would be to buy a fowling-piece. He appeared to 

 have some talent as a marksman, though he had liardh' ever 

 fired a shot before he came on board the Frain. Like all be- 

 ginners, he had to put up with a good many misses before he 

 got so far as to hit his mark. But practice makes perfect ; and 

 one fine day he began to win our respect as a marksman, for he 

 actually hit a bird on the wing. But then came a succession of 

 "mishaps" for some time, and he lost faith in his power of kill- 

 ing his game on the wing, and sought less ambitious outlets for 

 his skill. Long afterwards the real cause of his many bad shots 

 came to light. A wag, who thought that Pettersen was doing 

 too much execution among the game, had quietly reloaded his 

 cartridges, so that Pettersen had all the time been shooting with 

 salt instead of lead, and that, of course, would make a little 

 difference. 



Besides the animals named, it appears that Greenland sharks 

 are also found in these latitudes. One da}^ Henriksen went to 

 remove the blubber from some bearskins, which he had had 

 hanging out in the channel for a week or so ; he found that the 

 two smallest skins had been nearly devoured, so that only a few 

 shreds were left. It could hardly have been an}- other animal 

 than the Greenland shark which had played us this trick. We 

 put out a big hook with a piece of blubber on it, to try if we 

 could catch one of the thieves, but it was of no use. 



One day in the beginning of August the mate and Mogstad 

 were out upon the ice trying to find the keel of the petroleum 

 launch, which had been forgotten. They said that they had 

 seen fresh tracks of a bear, which had been trotting about the 



