Foas. 
109 
by after changes in equilibrium. I here noticed some 
interesting changes in the granular condition of its 
surface snows, establishing the same gradual increase 
of diameter which has been observed in the grains of 
the Alpine Neve. 
Avgust 3. On the 3d, while we were engaged in the 
eternal warping, a large Polar bear walked leisurely 
toward us. The floes were so separated that he had 
to take to the water, when a party from the Rescue 
pursued him in boats. Several times he attempted to 
gain the ice ; but it crumbled under him, and he was 
forced to continue his swim. The boat gained on him 
rapidly; and at last, just as he had succeeded in ef- 
fecting a foothold, gave him a ball at sixty yards. 
But, although wounded, he gained the ice, and, con- 
tinuing his march, was soon lost among the icebergs. 
Our progress to-day was by alternate warping and 
sailing ; but in this latter resort we met a new imped- 
iment, the “ young,” or, as it is called by the whalers, 
the “ bay ice.” This formed a brittle pellicle nearly 
an inch thick, which, besides retarding our way, cut 
into our sides like glass. We combated it till 2 P. 
M., but then a thick fog obliged us to tie up to the 
floe. 
In an atmosphere close upon the point of saturation, 
the fog vesicle is precipitated by a very slight differ- 
ence in the temperatures of the atmospheric strata. I 
had observed these fogs before, when the surface wa- 
ter was a few degrees warmer than the atmosphere, 
which was generally near the freezing point. Now, 
however, the converse was the case ; the temperature 
of the air was about 39°, and the water as low as 30°, 
The belt of condensation was singularly well defined. 
Although we could not distinguish objects thirty paces 
