A FOX. 
357 
the snow surfaces. The hummocks seem already to 
have diminished hy evaporation. They are less angu- 
lar, and blend in rounder lines with the snow drifts. 
Night has gone. I see still at midnight the circum- 
polar stars, and Jupiter, in his splendor, on the east- 
ern sky ; but I can read at midnight. 
"April 25, Friday. Walked to open water to the 
northeast. The snow is melted through the crust. I 
sink up to my knees. Saw the tracks of a fox, very 
recent. The little fellow had come from the dire'^iion 
of the poor wounded bear, now cut off from us by the 
broken ice, swimming the lead at its narrowest cross- . 
ing, some fifteen paces. So long as his patron could 
have supplied him with food, the little parasite wouild 
not have left him. It may be that the bear has per- ' 
ished from inability to hunt for both. 
" Saw a right whale ! Saw also a large flock of 
geese at 9 A.M., winging their way to the northward, 
and flying very low. They were so irregular in their 
order of flight, that I would have taken them for ducks 
— the Somateria ; but my messmates say geese. 
"April 26, Saturday. One of the changes which we 
must expect has brought back to us comparative win- 
ter. Yesterday gave us a noonday and morning tem- 
perature of +28°. It is now {10 P.M.) -9°. It was 
— 7° at noonday, with a bright, clear sunshine. The 
change is due to a northerly wind. It has blown 
steadily throughout the day from northwest by north. 
We hope much from it in the way of drift. Our lat- 
itude was 69° 40" 42"" N ; our longitude, 63° 08" 46'" W. 
" The wind change has given us no new ruptures. 
Indeed, it seems to have shut up the environing ' leads' 
around us. This may be a good preface to a sque eze ; 
for I can see no water from the mast-head. 
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