20 BEAR OH CHERIE ISLAND. 



Bear or Clierie Island, so called, I presume, on 

 the luous a non lucendo principle, because 

 it certainly produces neither bears nor cherries 

 at the present day. I believe the real reasons 

 for its nomenclature are, that some of the early 

 Dutch navigators, on their way to China, once 

 saw a bear here, and that an English expedi- 

 tion, sent out by Alderman Cherie of London, 

 afterwards erroneously fancied that they were 

 the discoverers of the island, and tried to sup- 

 plant its original name by that of their patron. 

 There is said to be plenty of good coal cropping 

 out of a precipice on the island. 



Although this was the third time that I have 

 passed close by Bear Island, I had never yet 

 actually been able to see it, as it is generally 

 shrouded by impenetrable mist. One can, how- 

 ever, always tell when you approach it by the 

 enormous quantities of gulls, puffins, guil- 

 lemots, razor-bills, divers, &c., which use it 

 as a sort of headquarters and nursery, and 

 aflPord to the mariner a perfect index to its 

 proximity.* 



The thermometer here fell to 36°, and a fresh 



* Bear Island is inaccurately laid down on the charts ; 

 its actual longitude being 19° east from Greenwich, and 

 not 20° east, as the charts make it. 



