The Zoologist— May, 1866. 205 



there. Now the}' are hemmed in by the packed ice of the Polar Sea 

 on the one side and their merciless enemies on the other. The result 

 cannot admit of any double 



But to continue my story from this digression, which I hope, how- 

 ever, may not be without its use. On the 10th of Anj-ust our two 

 ships again joined company ; and, finding it was useless attempting 

 either to get up tlie Stor Fjord or sail further to the eastward, we again 

 rounded the South Cape and made for the northward. The season, 

 however, being now so far advanced, our pilot declined the respon- 

 sibility of taking the yacht further north than Ice Fjord ; and 

 accordingly, after having to steer considerably to the westward to avoid 

 the heavy ice which beset the coast about Horn Sound, we found 

 ourselves, on the afternoon of the 14th, once more at our old anchorage 

 in Safe Haven. Here we remained another week, most of our party 

 finding plenty of occupation in deer-stalking; but I was not able to 

 add much to my slock of zoological knowledge. The deer were now 

 in magnificent condition, and nineteen were shot, making, with those 

 obtained the week the yacht was there in Jidy, a total of forty-seven. 

 On the night of the 17th the salt water of the Haven was frozen over, 

 and two days afterwards the sun set. On the morning of the 21st we 

 weighed anchor, homeward bound. On the 24th we spoke a Norwegian 

 ja3|;t, engaged in the fishing of Scymnus borealis, an example of which 

 was hauled up just as we passed.* The same day we sighted Bear 

 Island, which on our outward voyage we had not seen, owing to the fog; 

 and on the 27lh we reached Hammerfest. 



It remains for me to add a few words on the Cetaceans we saw. I 

 have already mentioned Beluga catadon, which we observed also on 

 two other occasions. This is the only species of which I can speak 

 definitely, though we certainly saw at least four others. Of these, the 



* This fishery has of late years assumed considerable importance. The vessels 

 employed in it mostly do not jjo so far north, but keep about midway between Bear 

 Island and the Norih Cape of Europe. There they anchor in deep water with a light 

 Cable, which they cut if it comes on to blow suddenly. The sharks are caught with a 

 bailed hook at the end of a very lonp; line. As soon as one is hooked, he is hauled up 

 on deck by a windlass, and beaten on the head until he is motionless. His liver, 

 which alone is required of him, is then cut out; and, his entiails bein;; fully inflated 

 with air, his body is hea>ed overboard to float away quite clear of the vessel. The 

 Cause of this aj)paiently wantm cruelty is alleged to be ihe difficulty of otherwise dis- 

 posing of the carcase ; for the fishermen say that if the animal were killed, they would 

 not Caleb aniiiht-r shark until ihe dead one was entirely eaten up by his brethren, a 

 process ih.ii might involve a delay of some days. 



