t of it which it has fallen to my lot to describe is very different
from those portions about which poets have sung with rapture. Here,
none of the many wonders of the tropical latitudes beguile the tedium of
the voyage; no glittering dolphins force the winged inhabitants of the
deep to seek shelter on the vessel's deck; no ravenous sharks follow in
our wake to eat us if we chance to fall overboard, or amuse us by
swallowing our baited hook; no passing vessel cheers us with the
knowledge that there are others besides ourselves roaming over the
interminable waste of waters. All was dreary and monotonous; the same
unvarying expanse of sky and water met our gaze each morning as we
ascended to the deck, to walk for half an hour before breakfast, except
when the topsails of the other two vessels fluttered for a moment on the
distant horizon. Occasionally we approached closer to each other, and
once or twice hailed with the trumpet; but these breaks in the solitude
of our existence were few and far between.

Towards the end of July we approached Hudson Straits, having seen
nothing on the way worth mentioning, except one whale, which passed
close under the stern of the ship. This was a great novelty to me,
being the first that I had ever seen, and it gave me something to talk
of and think about for the next four days.

The ships now began to close in, as we neared the entrance of the
straits, and we had the pleasure of sailing in company for a few days.
The shores of the straits became visible occasionally, and soon we
passed with perfect confidence and security among those narrow channels
and mountains of ice that damped the ardour and retarded the progress of
Hudson, Button, Gibbons, and other navigators in days of yore.

One day, during a dead calm, our ship and the _Prince of Wales_ lay
close to each other, rolling in the swell of the glassy ocean. There
seemed to be no prospect of a breeze, so the captain ordered his gig to
be launched, and invited the doctor, Mr Carles, and myself to go on
board the _Prince of Wales_ with him. We accepted his offer, and were
soon alongside. Old Captain Ryle, a veteran in the Company's service,
received us kindly, and insisted on our staying to tea. The passengers
on board were--a chief factor, [_The chief factorship is the highest
rank attainable in the service, the chief trader being next_] who had
been home on leave of absence, and was returning to end his days,
perhaps, in t