146 
TRAPPING THE AUKS. 
in deflected lines. Several uncomfortable fragments 
had already passed by me, some even over my head, 
and my walking-pole was jerked from my hands and 
buried in the ruins. Thus helpless, I commenced my 
own half-involuntary descent, expecting momentarily 
to follow my pole, when my eye caught a projecting 
outcrop of feldspar, against which the strong current 
split into two minor streams. This, with some hard 
jumps, I succeeded in reaching. 
As I sat upon the temporary security of this little 
rock, surrounded by falling fragments, and awaiting 
their slow adjustment to a new equilibrium before I 
ventured to descend, I was struck with the Arctic orig- 
inality of every thing around. It was midnight, and 
the sun, now to the north, was hidden by the rocks ; 
but the whole atmosphere was pink with light. Over 
head and around me whirled innumerable crowds of 
Auks and Ivory guUs, screeching with execrable clam- 
or, almost in contact with my person. On the frozen 
lake below, contrasting with its snowy covering, were 
a couple of ravens, fighting zealously for a morsel of 
garbage ; and high up, on the crags above me, sat 
some unmoved, phlegmatic hurgomasters. 
I missed my opportunity of inspecting the nests of 
the Auks. They issued from the crevices between 
the detached fragments, and, it is probable, deposit- 
ed their eggs, like other Uria, upon the naked rock. 
Some of the men succeeded in reaching their squabs 
by introducing their arms. It is said that the Esqui- 
maux trap them by spreading out their clothing oppo- 
site these apertures, so that the birds, when disturbed, 
pass into and fill the sleeves and legs. 
While at this cove, I saw at a distance a black ani- 
mal, which, but for its apparently lesser size, I would 
