42 THE LOOK-OUT. 



CHAP. IV. 



Crow's-nest. — Look-out. — First "Walrus seen. — Pind them 

 very shy. — Great Ice-pack. — Two "Walruses shot. — Lay- 

 to in a dense Pog. — "Wreck of a Sloop in the Ice. — Cure 

 for frost-bitten Eeet. — Sketch of the Spitzbergen "Wal- 

 rus Hunter. — Profits of the Trade. — Truck System 



Cold. — Chilblains. — Seal-shooting on the Ice. — Method 

 of hunting the Great Seal. — Dimensions of Great Seal. 

 — Seal-shooting in the "Water. 



In a brig like Ericson's there is always a 

 "crow's-nest" (a contrivance in the shape of 

 a cask, large enough for a man to get into, 

 and made either of wood or canvass) fixed at 

 the main-topgallant-masthead ; but in a small 

 vessel, such as we had, the look-out man simply 

 sits on the main-gaff or the topsail-yard. Prom 

 our topsail-yard, with a good telescope, we 

 could see a single seal on white ice in a clear 

 day about four miles off ; and from a crow's- 

 nest as high as Ericson's I believe about double 

 that distance — a prodigious advantage for the 

 larger vessel. As may be supposed, it is rather 

 a cold position than otherwise, that on the top- 



