of the Hudson
Bay. Here her cargo was discharged and carried by scores of inland
boats and canoes to the various trading posts in the different parts of
that great country, which is larger than the whole continent of Europe.

So remote were some of those posts from the seaboard, and so difficult
and slow were the methods of transporting the goods, that several years
passed ere the fur secured from them reached the London markets, to
which they were all consigned and where they were carried each year in
the company's ships.

Although the _Prince Arthur_ was far from being a first-class passenger
ship, yet she was a good, seaworthy vessel, with plenty of room for the
few passengers who travelled by her each year. These were principally
gentlemen of the Hudson Bay Company's service and their friends, or
missionaries going out or returning home.

Letters from influential friends secured for our three boys the
considerate attention of the captain and the ship's officers, and their
own bright ways won the friendship of all the sailors on board. On the
whole they had a glorious passage. Some fogs at times perplexed them,
and a few enormous icebergs were so near that careful tacking was
required, to prevent accidents. The boys were filled with admiration at
these great mountains of ice; some of them seemed like great islands,
while others more closely resembled glorious cathedrals built in marble
and emerald. At times, as the western sun shone upon them, they seemed
to take on in parts every colour of the rainbow. With intense interest
were they watched as they slowly drifted beyond the southern horizon.

One of the most exciting incidents of the journey was a battle between a
great whale and a couple of swordfish. The unwieldy monster seemed to
be no match for his nimble antagonists. His sole weapon seemed to be
his enormous tail; but vain were his efforts to strike his quicker
enemies. As far as could be judged from the deck of the ship, the
swordfish were masters of the situation, and the blood-stained waters
seemed to indicate that the battle would soon be over.

In the southern part of Davis Strait they encountered great fields of
floating ice, on which were many herds of seals. The captain had the
ship hove to and three boats lowered. In each one he permitted one of
the boys to go with the sailors on this seal-hunting expedition. The
seals, which are so very active in water, where they can swim with such