94 
ANOTHER BEAR. 
severe trials, both of energy and health ; more severe, 
I sometimes think, than any which are encountered 
in the systematic explorations of the British voyagers. 
"July 20. We failed to reach the 'lake' yesterday, 
gaining it to-day. We cast off from the Rescue and 
made three minutes and twenty seconds of sail, meas- 
ured by a Parkinson and Frodsham chronometer ! 
That over, we are again wedged in ice. 
"Our commander, who had heretofore miraculously 
escaped his ducking, while standing upon a miniature 
South America of ice, punching with a boat-hook at 
a little Cape Horn, went down suddenly this morning, 
leaving a Terra del Fuego of slush and water to mark 
the place where he had been. He had some trouble 
in scrambling out. 
"A short time after this, while we were joking about 
his adventure over a quiet little noggin of whisky- 
punch, Mr. Boatswain Brooks, a capital seaman, who 
did watch duties on board the Rescue, whispered down 
the hatchway, 'A bear along side !' This time the ras- 
cal was right aboard of us, and we kept below the bul- 
warks, so that his wanderings were rather matters of 
caprice than of fear, 
" He was a young animal, not more than six or sev- 
en feet in length, with a color even more delicately 
tinted than the other, for the yellow was only appar- 
ent at the armpits, haunches, and spinal ridge ; his 
muzzle, lips, and dew-laps were of dark purple. 
" When first seen he rose upon his hind palms, and, 
lifting his neck- in the direction of our brig, snuffed 
the air inspectingly. Satisfied with our appearance, 
he walked well within shot ; but just as we were 
about to reward his confidence with a bullet, he gam- 
boled off to a neighboring hummock. The poor fel- 
