Nov. 1857. ICE-ARTILLERY. 67 



impetus, it fully realizes tlie justness of Dr. 

 Kane's descriptive epithet, " ice-artillery." For- 

 tunately for us, our poor little ' Fox ' is well 

 within the margin of a stout old floe : we are 

 therefore undisturbed spectators of ice-conflicts, 

 which would be irresistible to anything of 

 human construction. Immediately about the 

 ship all is still, and, as far as appearances go, 

 she is precisely as she would be in a secure 

 harbour — housed all over, banked up with snow 

 to her gunwales. In fact, her winter plumage 

 is so complete that the masts alone are visible. 

 The deck and the now useless skylights are 

 covered with hard snow. Below hatches we are 

 warm and dry ; all are in excellent health and 

 spirits, looking forward to an active campaign 

 next winter. Grod grant it may be realized ! 



Yesterday Young shot the fiftieth seal, an 

 event duly celebrated by our drinking the bottle 

 of champagne which had been set apart in more 

 hopeful times to be drunk on reaching the North 

 Water — that unhappy failure, the more keenly 

 felt from being so very unexpected. 



Petersen saw and fired a shot into a narwhal, 

 which brought the blubber out. When most 

 Arctic creatures are wounded in the water, 

 blubber more frequently than blood appears, 

 particularly if the wound is superficial — it 



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