IN PERIL FROM THE PACK
[Steamer Corwin,
June 8. Snowing nearly all day. Cleared towards four in the afternoon. Spoke the Helen Mar; had taken five whales; another had already nine. Seven other whalers in sight, all of them save two smoking like steamers. They are trying out their abundant blubber; in danger of being blubber-logged. Saw an Indian[1] canoe leaving the Helen Mar as we approached; probably had been trading, the sea being smooth.
Had a good view of the two Diomedes; the western one is very distinctly glaciated, nearly all of the summit being comprehended in one beautiful ice-fountain, giving it a craterlike form. The residual glacial action, however, has been light, comparatively, here. No deep canons putting back into the mountains, most of which are low. It is interesting, however, to see undoubted traces both of general and local glaciation thus far north, where the ground is in general rather low. Came up to the ice-pack about ten in the evening, so turned back and lay to.
June 4- Calm, bland, foggy water, glassy and still as a mill-pond. Cleared so that one
- ↑ Mr. Muir often applies this term to the Bering Sea natives in general, whether Innuits or Chukchis.
