VON WRANGELL. 



every moment to be swallowed up. We had been three 

 long hours in this position, and still the mass of ice 

 beneath us held together, when suddenly it was caught 

 by the storm, and hurled against a large field of ice. 

 The crash was terrific, and the mass beneath us was 

 shattered into fragments. At that dreadful moment, 

 when escape seemed impossible, the impulse of self- 

 preservation implanted in every living being saved us. 

 Instinctively we all sprang at once on the sledges, and 

 urged the dogs to their full speed. They flew across 

 the yielding fragments to the field on which we had 

 been stranded, and safely reached a part of it of firmer 

 character, on which were several hummocks, and where 

 the dogs immediately ceased running, conscious, appa- 

 rently, that the danger was past. We were saved : we 

 joyfully embraced each other, and united in thanks to 

 God for our preservation from such imminent peril." 



More than once during this trip the party heard from 

 the Tchuktches that land could be seen far away in the 

 northern seas. The part of the coast alluded to was 

 Cape Jakan, which the explorers afterwards visited ; 

 but, although "they gazed long and earnestly on the 

 horizon, in hopes, as the atmosphere was clear, of dis- 

 cerning some appearance of the northern land," they 

 "could see nothing of it." 



^%^3 ^iiiL- 



--'v" -T- :; L 





ICE-KAFT. 



