DUCK-HUNTING AND EGGING. — ICE COLLARS. 



325 



way, carrying on their foaming surface small bergs, " sconce" 

 pieces, and ice fragments of all shapes, in utter disregard of each 

 other. When the tide turned these masses came whirling back, 

 as if madly bent on heaping destruction wherever they could. 

 This scene in Bear Sound was singularly grand and striking. 



With regard to these tides I will not say much here, reserving 

 such subjects for the Appendix ; but I soon found this to be a sub- 

 ject requiring attentive consideration, and this I afterward had an 

 opportunity of giving to it. 



As to egging and duck-hunting, I can say more about it now. 

 The ducks were very numerous, flying over our heads in every 

 direction. They were in the water drifting with the swiftly-run- 

 ning tide, on the ice, and on nearly every one of the numerous 

 islands we passed. Wherever we saw a great many upon or 

 around an island, we visited it for eggs. 



The first island we pulled to was one in the midst of a sweep- 

 ing, driving tide, so that it seemed to defy all human exertions to 

 approach it; yet, after "a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull al- 

 together," we conquered. The boat was taken round to the op- 

 posite side of the island from that where the tide struck it, and 

 though the water rolled and tumbled as if mad, we managed by 

 a plan of our own to get upon the top of the magnificent "ice 

 collar" that engirdled the island. 



This was the first time in my life that I saw eider-ducks' nests, 

 and consequently the first occasion on which I aided in abstract- 

 ing the large, luscious eggs. In ten minutes four of us gathered 

 six dozen, and at another island, in twenty minutes, sixteen dozen 

 and five. The eggs taken are replaced by fresh ones, as the 

 ducks lay every two or three days. Many ducks were shot, but, 

 owing to the swift tide, only a few were obtained. The rest were 

 swept away. 



In speaking of the " ice collars" surrounding the islands, I may 

 mention that if they had been simply perpendicular the difficulty 

 in mounting them would not have been so great ; but they pro- 

 jected over from ten to thirty feet, and when the tide had fallen 

 some twenty-four feet it was no slight task to surmount them. 

 We managed it in some cases by extending two of our long oars 

 from the boat to the top, thus forming a substitute for a ladder. 



Many of the islands in Bear Sound were locked together by 

 natural ice bridges, several of these being arched in a most re- 

 markable manner. 



