ARCTIC BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA.

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pute; it has been supposed by some that it stirs up its food from the bottom, but in such a case the female would be sadly at a loss for want of a similar appliance, though a recently described New Zealand bird seems just a case in point; for here we also find the male bird is furnished with a long and sharply curved beak, while the female of the same species is known to have a very much shorter bill, and there is no reason to believe that their food is different.

These narwhals are pugnacious one with another, often it happens that the tooth gets broken, and in savage encounters the point of one opponent's tooth has been found embedded in the broken piece of the other. Fabricius thought its use was to keep the holes open in the ice during the winter; and the following occurrence seems to support this view. In April 1860, a Greenlander was travelling along the ice in the vicinity of Christianshaab, and discovered one of these open spaces in the ice, which, even in the most severe winters, remain open. In this hole hundreds of narwhals and white whales were protruding their heads to breathe, no other place presenting itself for miles around. It was described to Dr. R. Brown as akin to the Arctic Black Hole of Calcutta, in the eagerness of the animals to keep at the place. Hundreds of Eskimo and Danes resorted thither with their dogs and sledges,

and while one shot the animal, another harpooned it to prevent its being pushed aside by the anxious crowd of breathers. Dozens of both narwhals and white whales were killed, but many were lost before they were got home, the ice breaking up soon after. In the summer ensuing the natives found many of the dead washed in the bays and inlets around.

up

We have fine weather on the 24th, with a calm sea, and the atmosphere has a curious effect upon the scene, which is novel, and not without its meaning ; the clear water in the distance seems as if it was lifted up far above the level of the ice floating on the sea. This is the result of refraction, and the harpooners notice the fact, and say it is an indication of a north or north-eastern wind, which will have the effect of liberating us from our enforced captivity, caused by the crowding together of the ice, which has held us back for the last three days.

Sure enough, the cold northern wind comes along, driving the ice before it; it slowly effects this change, and the packed ice gradually opens, and it requires all our skill to drive aside the immense floors of ice which threaten every moment to squeeze us between the contracting gaps. But the ice soon begins to stream off, and we begin to comprehend the vexed question of currents flowing south, and the influence of the winds

from the north; our impression inclined to the former theory, and for the simple reason that is obvious to our senses, for when closely packed, the wind causes an undulating motion to be imparted to the sea, and this motion has the effect of rocking the ice to and fro, so that it opens out naturally from the action given to the back water; each separate mass acting on its immediate neighbour is forced by widening the space by concussion to leave narrow channels between, and the lesser blocks being lighter, drift rapidly along, while the larger blocks having a greater draught move more slowly. Presently the whole mass is trending towards the south, streaming as it goes into wide estuaries, leaving bays of various extent and ever-changing form as they go; our good ship is under the same influences, and our men are nearly worn out in their continual efforts to fend off the dangers that every moment crop up around us—at one time we are all intent upon this work, now the ice drifting down threatens to grind us up between the floes, some are more than an acre in area, these seem to close upon us for our destruction; the next moment, the danger being averted, we are making sail in a clear lake of considerable extent, and also trending southwards. One thing appears certain— many whaling captains confirming our observationthat the ice never streams towards the north, any

portions which become detached from the pack invariably taking a southerly direction. Our little vessel dances merrily along in its freedom down the long lanes like some village maiden hurrying to some trysting-place; the lane sides here are not hawthorn clothed with May however, but solid walls of ice on either hand, dangerous, no doubt, yet their formidable aspect is somewhat tempered by the glorious effect of their prismatic colours as they reflect the sun's rays, playing upon them as they stand out of the cold blue water.

To the eastward we observe a thick, dense, dark blue cloud, which to the sailors is an omen of gladness. This indigo cloud is, after all, no cloud, but a reflection of the open water beneath it-water we cannot see owing to our position, but clear water ready waiting to receive us. Everywhere else in all directions the horizon is one dazzling glare of light, and out of this glare we strive to escape in the direction of our goal, steering our ship with obstinate determination to reach the blue cloud.

Our look-out man, seated in his crow's nest, now sings out in gleeful accents: "Them unicorns is a blowing like mad the other side the stream of ice." The sight is a strange one; the beasts with dappled sides are curvetting about close to the surface, the pointed tilting spear thrust from beneath the waves as they rise

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with graceful motion and charge along with wild and reckless lunges of their formidable weapons; suddenly they skim along the surface, curving their backs they plunge headlong down, and the moment after, others, as if playing at some intricate game, as suddenly appear in the spot vacated; crowds follow in single file the vagaries of some chosen leader, the mazes of some game, and we watch with unwearying gaze the sport they seem to enjoy so much. Then the idea presents itself of lowering a boat and dashing in amongst them in the hope of capturing a prize. No sooner is the scheme proposed than the crew are ready for the fun, and with a strong pull we are soon alongside the icy barrier. All are eager for the sport; the boat is soon dragged over to the other side and launched in the water beyond; now everything is ready, but their sports are at an end. For some cause, the shifting of the ice, perhaps, or the alarm communicated to the herd by their leader, soon spreads amongst the narwhal, and despite all our well-meant efforts, we are at length forced to give up the pursuit, fairly beaten by the fatigue. As we

return to the schooner the older hands inform us that

they never knew such pursuit result in any gain; narwhal at such times cannot be taken.

the

On the 28th we again came up with the seals, but

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