waters, whose presence was shown, from afar, by the “water- 
sky” * above. 
Such leads ending in snares, we sailed south-southeast all 
day in discouraging attempts. Not even a couple of small 
seal sufficed to raise our spirits, though shooting seal from 
aboard ship is filled with spice. The hunter conceals him¬ 
self in the bow, his gun pointed ahead, and just enough of 
his head showing to allow his taking sight. The ship is 
pointed for the floe where the seal are lying, and drifts to¬ 
ward the ice where they may be. We found a head or 
neck-shot equally fatal; while if hit in the body, the seal is 
usually lost. 
On the 23d a new specimen, the snad or spotted seal 
July 23 d (Ph oca vitulina), was killed in Latitude 74 0 6', Longitude 
13 0 47' west. 
Innumerable heads would bob up round the floes, but of 
all our shots only one drew a floater. These animals are the 
usual prey of the bear, and are what most artists have in mind 
in their hackneyed pictures of “Ice bear devouring seal.” 
We have found by this time that by rolling around on the 
ice, tossing our limbs and the like, we could attract the seal. 
A high-voiced call similar to: “Oya! Oya!” also succeeded 
in bringing them. Two blue-backed seal were taken to-day. 
On the 24th, the sun coming out of the fog sufficiently to 
July 24 th permit observations, we found ourselves one hundred and 
fifty miles south of our route. Then, its doleful message told, 
the fog closed in once more. 
Lead upon lead opened out, but to be tried and to deceive. 
Between trials, seven seal—the largest bag of any day— 
came to hand. 
Ever thicker grew the fog, more deceptive the ice passages. 
Midnight to noon the mists lay heavy, reminding one of a 
Newfoundland or Alaskan morning. 
* “ When light falls on a field of pack-ice, it is reflected in the stratum of air above 
it, and this span of light, called the ‘ ice-blink,’ just above the horizon, warns the navi¬ 
gator of the impossibility of penetrating further. This phenomenon is often observed 
over drift-ice, although not so intense or so yellow in color as over pack-ice. Water 
spaces, on the other hand, show their presence by dark spots on the horizon, produced 
by the formation of clouds from ascending mists. These are the so-called ‘water-sky’ 
and faithfully indicate the ‘leads’ beneath them. Above the large ‘ice-holes’ they 
assume the dark colors of a thunder-sky, though they are never so strongly defined.” 
—(Julius Payer, “ New Lands Within the Arctic Circle.” Narrative of the discoveries 
of the Austrian Ship Teggetihoff in 1872-1874, Vol. I, p. 12.) 
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