nded
by the tightly wedged floes, at the mercy of the wind. The gale
continued until the evening of the 20th. The constant surging back and
forth of the channel-pack, with the spring tides and the several huge
masses of ice, which repeatedly crashed against the ship's sides, caused
a delay of twelve days in Robeson Channel opposite Lincoln Bay.
Throughout the width of the entire channel nothing could be seen but
small pools of open water; two seals were seen sporting in one of these
pools, and one of the Esquimos attempted to kill them, but his aim
proved false.

It was not until the 25th that the ship was able to move of her own free
will, small leads having opened in close proximity to her. Ootah shot a
seal in one of the leads, and also harpooned a narwhal, but he did not
succeed in securing either. His brother Egingwah on the following day
shot two seals and harpooned a narwhal, and he secured all three of his
prizes. The Esquimos had a grand feast off the skin of the narwhal,
which they esteem as a great delicacy.

By the 27th the _Roosevelt_ had drifted as far south as Wrangell Bay,
and it was here that Slocum (Inighito) shot and secured a hood-seal,
which weighed over six hundred pounds, and seal-steaks were added to the
bill-of-fare.

The snow storms of the two days ceased on the 28th, and when the weather
cleared sufficiently for us to ascertain our whereabouts, we were much
surprised to find that we had drifted back north, opposite Lincoln Bay.
During the day the wind shifted to the north. Again we drifted
southward, until, just off Cape Beechey, the narrowest part of Robeson
Channel, a lead stretching southward for a distance of five miles was
sighted, and into this open water the ship steamed until the lead
terminated in Kennedy Channel, opposite Lady Franklin Bay, where the
_Roosevelt_ was ice-bound until August 4, drifting with the pack until
we were in a direct line with Cape Tyson and Bellot Isle. Three seals
were captured, one a hood-seal weighing 624 pounds, being eight feet
eleven inches in length; the other two were small ring-seals.

By ten A. M. of the 4th, the ice had slackened so considerably that the
_Roosevelt_, under full steam, set out and rapidly worked her way down
Kennedy Channel. From Crozier Island to Cape D'Urville she steamed
through practically open water, but a dense fog compelled us to make
fast to a large floe when almost opposite Cape Albert. It was not until
one A. M. of the