VOYAGE THROUGH THE KARA SEA 197 



the edge of the ice, and hardly feel a shock when she 

 touched. 



Just as we were approaching we saw a fox jump- 

 ino; backward and forward on the ice, takino^ the most 

 wonderful leaps and enjoying life. Sverdrup sent a 

 ball from the forecastle which put an end to it on the 

 spot. 



About midday two bears were seen on land, but they 

 disappeared before we got in to shoot them. 



The number of seals to be seen in every direction was 

 something extraordinary, and it seemed to me that this 

 would be an uncommonly good hunting-ground. The 

 flocks I saw this first day on the ice reminded me of 

 the crested-seal hunting-grounds on the west coast of 

 Greenland. 



This experience of ours may appear to contrast 

 strangely with that of the Vega expedition. Norden- 

 skiold writes of this sea, comparing it with the sea 

 to the north and east of Spitzbergen : "Another strik- 

 ing difference is the scarcity of warm-blooded animals in 

 this region as yet unvisited by the hunter. We had not 

 seen a single bird in the whole course of the day, a 

 thing that had never before happened to me on a sum- 

 mer voyage in the Arctic regions, and we had hardly 

 seen a seal." The fact that they had not seen a seal is 

 simply enough explained by the absence of ice. From 

 my impression of it, the region must, on the contrary, 

 abound in seals. Nordenskiold himself says that "num- 



