34 



ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



appeared in 11 white caps," the bounding billows playing with us 

 all day in fantastic gambols, while the ship plunged fearfully 

 down into a deep abyss ; then, like a thing of life, would she leap 

 skyward, as a mad wave struck the bow in all its fury, burying it 

 beneath the sheet of spray, which flew far and wide in its impo- 

 tent wrath. But the George Henry heeded it not. Like a lion 

 shaking the dews of heaven from his mane, so did our good ship 

 appear, bathed in crystal drops, but still driving on and on majes- 

 tically. Earely did I enjoy myself more than when those storms 

 encountered us. It seemed to me as if no one could, to the full- 

 est extent, appreciate the beauty, the grandeur, the greatness of 

 God's creation but in experiencing a storm at sea. Watching it 

 as I did, firmly wedged against the mast, with my arm encircling 

 a cluster of ropes, I could keep my place, notwithstanding the 

 vessel now and then would be on her beam-ends, or some fearful 

 wave, overleaping the bulwarks, seek to take me away. And as 

 I stood there, I could study Nature and Nature's God. As far 

 as the eye could carry me, say for seven miles in every direction, 

 making an area of over one hundred and fifty square miles, the 

 ocean was dancing as if wild with joy. One moment it would 

 seem as if a universal effort was being made by the waters to 

 kiss the clouds ; in the next, diving low, low down, as if to hide 

 their laugh over the daring deed ; then, as if to signify their un- 

 willingness of my being so cool a spectator, the ship would be 

 borne high up in their snowy arms, and all at once plunged quick- 

 ly down into the bosom of the sea, covering myself and the decks 

 with tons of briny water. 



On the 19th of June we were in lat. 51° 18' K, long. 49° 12' W., 

 and here I give a few extracts from my diary to show my ideas 

 and feelings at the time. 



"This day saw several of the largest size whales, Balcena Phy- 

 salis, called £ sulphur-bottoms' by the whalers. It is indeed the 

 king of fishes, though this term applies to the whale family in gen- 

 eral ; but, being a very difficult kind to capture, whalers seldom 

 ever venture in their chase. Less quiet and tranquil in its move- 

 ments than the Mysticetus, or Greenland whale, it becomes furi- 

 ous when wounded, and renders an approach to it dangerous. 

 Its flight, when struck by the harpoon, is exceedingly rapid, and 

 is so long sustained that it is very difficult — generally impossible 

 — to tire it out. The game is not worth the cost and risk, for the 

 blubber and bone of the Physalis are indifferent in quality and 



