TWO EXCITING EVENTS. 
473 
them from the cold, we have none at all ; and, thougli the 
centigrade thermometer often sinks as low as twenty-five 
degrees below zero, we seldom liear of any of them freez- 
ing to death. You see, when it is so ver^j cold we really 
do not feel it as much as if it were warmer; for the air is 
always perfectly still and dr}*, and it is with the sharp, 
damp winds that we sutfer most.” 
And thus passed another evening; and the next day 
they were to dine with us, and upon the following we 
were to lunch with them, and then to sea once more 
in our miserable old rattletrap. 
The next day came and the dinner passed off finely; 
and then the short night and supper on shore followed, 
and the early sun ushered in “the last day,” This last 
day in port was remarkable for two things, — the first of 
which Avas iQ^vfiilhj important, as Hartman expressed it, 
while the second was exciting in the extreme to all who 
witnessed it. The first Avas the purchase of an air- 
tight hogshead of fine flour from a charitable whaler, that 
Avas sufficient to insure us good bread until our arri\'al at 
San Francisco; and the second was the striking of a largo 
whale Avithin gunshot of our ship. But let my journal 
give us a feAv pages in regard to this latter: — 
“We had been at anchor three days. Our field-books 
Avere full of data for the harbour-chart, and the next 
morning’s early sun Avas to see us under wa^^ for the 
river Anioor. During these three days Ave had Avorked 
hard in our boats Avith sextant and lead-line, and during 
the three nights still harder at the Bussiaii governor’s 
table Avith knife and fork. In fact, we had been almost 
feasted to death by these fraternizing Northmen, and had 
