OUR ENCOUNTER. 
263 
and saving myself for liis dessert. These meditations 
were soon brought to a close; for a second movement 
of the seal so aroused my hunter’s instincts that 1 
pulled the trigger. My cap alone exploded. Instantly, 
with a floundering splash, the seal descended into the 
deep, and the bear, with three or four rapid leaps, 
stood disconsolately by the place of his descent. For 
a single moment we stared each other in the face, and 
then, with that discretion which is the better part of 
valor, the bear ran off in one direction, and I followed 
his example in the other. 
The generally-received idea of the Polar bear 
battling with the walrus meets little favor among 
the Esquimaux of Smith’s Straits. My own expe¬ 
rience is directly adverse to the truth of the story. 
The walrus is never out of reach of water, and, in 
his peculiar element, is without a rival. I have seen 
the bear follow the ussuk by diving; but the tough 
hide and great power of the walrus forbid such an 
attack. 
“June 9, Friday.—To-day I was able to walk out 
upon the floe for the first time. My steps were 
turned to the observatory, where, close beside the 
coffins of Baker and Schubert, Sontag was at work 
with the unifilar, correcting the winter disturbances. 
Our local deviation seems to have corrected itself: 
the iron in our comfortless little cell seems to have 
been so distributed that our results were not affected 
by it. 
“ I was very much struck by the condition of the 
