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entrusted to them.* The man on board of us thankfully received, as his fee, some biscuit which the commander ordered him; and to this I added, out of my own private stores, a trifling present from myself, with which he seemed highly delighted. He took our mail bag, and joining two of his companions who were in canoes astern of us, they very soon paddled, with their accustomed swiftness, to the shore, while we stood on our course to the northward.

*A proof of this may be given by stating that the packet of letters we here sent on shore for England, came to hand all safe.

BOAT SONGS.

ASPECT OF THE ICE. A SCHOONER CLOSING UPON THE ICE. "DEVIL'S THUMB."

SUCCEED

CLOSE SHAVE

WITH A BERG.

Thursday 18th.-I DID not get to my berth till four in the morning, and was up again at eight to attend to the chronometers, &c. I found that, amidst heavy rain and thick weather, with a light southerly wind, we were passing numerous icebergs, many of them bursting with a report like the roar of heavy artillery. The water was getting quite smooth, and hardly any motion in the ship was perceptible. It was clear that we were now fast approaching the "Pack," and due preparations were accordingly made for it. The "crow's nest" was duly installed at the mast-head, with all the customary honours; and as it is an important and very necessary item in the equipment of every vessel voyaging in the Arctic Seas,

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the following description of it may not be uninteresting.

The "Crow's Nest" is a light cask, or any similar object, appointed for the look-out man aloft to shelter himself in, and is, in large ships, generally at the topmast-head. In smaller vessels, however, it is necessary to have it as high up as possible, in order to give from it a greater scope of vision than could be attained lower down. Consequently, in the Prince Albert it was close to the "fore-truck," that is, completely at the mast-head. In our case, it was a long, narrow, but light cask, having at the lower part of it a trap, acting like a valve, whereby any one could enter; and was open at the upper part. In length it was about four feet, so that a person on the look-out had no part of himself exposed to the weather but his head and shoulders. In the interior of it was a small seat, slung to the hinder part of the cask, and a spy-glass, well secured.

To reach the "crow's nest," a rope ladder was affixed to the bottom of it, as seen in the engraving. This is called the "Jacob's Ladder," and the boatswain may be observed attaching the lower parts of it to the foremast-head. Upon the top-gallant yard are two men, busy in securing the cask to the mast, while the second mate is inside trying its strength, and giving directions concerning it,

H

The "crow's nest" is a favourite place with many whaling captains-Penny, for instance-who are rarely out of it for days when among the ice. I was very frequently in it myself, fair weather or foulfrom six to a dozen times a day, - both for personal gratification, and for the purpose of looking out. It was a favourite spot with me at midnight, when the atmosphere was clear, and the whole beauty of arctic scenery was exposed to view.

In addition to the "crow's nest," ice anchors, claws, axes, &c., were laid in order; tow-ropes, warps, and all the other gear, examined and coiled down for use; the men, too, began to get their "tracking belts "prepared for service; and, altogether, a new phase in our existence was evidently about to commence. It was all fresh to me: I enjoyed it; and had enough to do, admiring the enormous masses of ice we were passing, the white-topped mountains in the distance, and the strange aspect of everything around me. It seemed, as we slowly threaded our way through the bergs, that we were about approaching some great battlefield, in which we were to be actively engaged; and that we were now, cautiously, passing through the various outposts of the mighty encampment; at other times I could almost fancy we were about to enter secretly, by the suburbs, some of those vast and wonderful cities whose magnificent ruins throw into utter

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insignificance all the grandeur of succeeding ages. Silently, and apparently without motion, did we glide along, amidst dark hazy weather, rain, and enough wind to fill the sails and steady them, but no more. In the afternoon we passed Buchan's and Berry's Islands, the fog and thick weather still around us; and at six P. M. we began to enter loose ice, which seemed to cover the sea in streams as far as the eye could see. Slowly and cautiously, we proceeded through it; hardly venturing, in this our first and timid experience, to let the smallest piece come against the ship's side; so different was our feeling now, from what it became but a short time afterwards. This day we had a fire in the cabin stove for the first time, though it was more on account of the damp below than from any feeling of cold.

Friday 19th. The past night was nearly calm, and the watch on deck had to be employed in towing the ship, so as to keep her clear from bergs and loose pieces, and also to help her on her way. This towing is most fatiguing work, and does not give two miles an hour to a vessel's reckoning; but it serves to give her steerage way, and keeps her in the course required to be pursued. Our men were all accustomed to it from their previous life being passed in whalers, where there is necessarily a great deal of this sort of work; and they set to