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heard for the first time. At first we thought that the sound proceeded from the ice itself, and as we stood listening for the repetition of the noise, we did not fail to notice the grandeur of the ice around us. Beautifully iridescent caves rose out of the pure water beneath, in whose recesses we saw the upper edges festooned in a curious manner with what seemed a network of lace composed of the finest gems; these fringes glistened in the prismatic light with every motion of the waves, and the fairy halls were filled with sounds as strange as its glittering decorations. Each vast block as it surges against its neighbour causes a moaning wail to reverberate throughout the caverns, and the shock, each time it is repeated, sends down thousands of splinters which fall with a crash resembling broken glass. But Eddy's practised ear was not likely to be mistaken; we now see it plainly. The sailors persist in calling the great mammal a "fish ;" he has no dorsal fin, but is perfectly straight-backed, as he sports along the water. We follow him stealthily, hoping he may enter the bight where all is calm and still; there we may let down our boats, an act which in the sea outside would be attended with risk and absolute danger. We follow him in vain: after tacking and following him for some time he dives and we lose him altogether. Sailing into a deep bay formed by the ice,

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we begin to suspect the presence of another whale, when the boy Jack cries out, "A whale, a whale!" and receives condign punishment forthwith. This boy in his sleep often starts up with the same wild cry, in spite of the regular correction he receives from his father in whose bunk he sleeps. We sail along, passing through narrow strips of ice into inner lakes of open water, the ice growing larger as we proceed; the hard snow-covered surface occasionally rising into hummocks as we go. Here are floes of ice twenty miles in circumference, and fields of ice of several acres in extent. We see numbers of narwhals, but all our efforts to capture them as they swim northward prove unavailing. Next day we are forced to wait patiently at one place for a considerable time, and remembering the experience we had gained on a previous occasion we watch anxiously for the coming of some sleepy narwhal into our own scrap of open water. The hours seem to drag along wearily as we wait, and it is in the midst of our patient waiting the man from the nest aloft suddenly announces the presence of a polar bear, probably attracted towards us by his keen scent. As there is a likelihood of the chase being a protracted one we make all our arrangements with fitting care; our rifles are examined, and the men provide a rope and haak

pick, feeling certain that we shall have some use for them. Far out on the great ice field our surly customer is seen lumbering towards us; while a boat is being got ready to cut off his retreat should he take to the water, we step down upon the ice; on its surface, large pools of fresh water about a foot in depth spread themselves in all directions. Our hunting ground rises gradually from the water's edge-a vast plain diversified with hummocks of snow-covered ice. At first we busy ourselves in selecting a course to avoid the pools; our boots are well adapted for wading, but we desire to gain upon Master Brownie with as little noise as possible. We are forced, however, to wade, and worse still, to go right through a deep snowdrift in search of the bear, of whose whereabouts we have not the slightest clue. Suddenly, he comes into view of our party, and presents an appearance as unlike the white-coated beasts we see in the Zoo as it is possible to imagine. On the contrary, we see a gaunt, pale, yellow, hungry-looking brute, swaying his sharpcut muzzle from side to side in restless indecision. Whether it is the momentary fear of danger, or the usual habit of the Arctic bear we could not then say, but we wished he would adopt a more steady and dignified bearing for a few minutes to enable us to take a more certain and deliberate aim. We

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