132 LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES. [VIII. 



mense amount of misdirected energy, breaking — I remem- 

 ber — at the same moment, both the cabin sky-light, and an 

 oar, in single combat with a large berg that was doing no 

 particular harm to us, but against which he seemed suddenly 

 to have conceived a violent spite. Luckily a considerable 

 quantity of snow overlaid the ice, which, acting as a buffer, 

 in some measure mitigated the violence of the concussion ; 

 while the very fragility of her build diminishing the momen- 

 tum, proved in the end the little schooner's greatest security. 

 Nevertheless, I must confess that more than once, while 

 leaning forward in expectation of the scrunch I knew must 

 come, I have caught myself half murmuring to the fair face 

 that seemed to gaze so serenely at the cold white mass we 

 were approaching : " O Lady, is it not now fit thou shouldest 

 befriend the good ship of which thou art the pride ? " 



At last, after having received two or three pretty severe 

 bumps, — though the loss of a little copper was the only 

 damage they entailed, — we made our way back to the 

 northern end of the island, where the pack was looser, and 

 we had at all events a little more breathing room. 



It had become very cold ; — so cold, indeed, that Mr. 

 Wyse — no longer able to keep a clutch of the rigging — had 

 a severe tumble from the yard on which he was standing. 

 The wind was freshening, and the ice was evidently still in 

 motion ; but although very anxious to get back again into 

 open water, we thought it would not do to go away without 

 landing, even if it were only for an hour. So having laid 

 the schooner right under the cliff, and putting into the gig 

 our own discarded figure-head, a white ensign, a flag-staff, 

 and a tin biscuit-box, containing a paper on which I had 

 hastily written the schooner's name, the date of her arrival, 

 and the names of all those who sailed on board, — we pulled 

 ashore. A ribbon of beach not more than fifteen yards 

 wide, composed of iron-sand, augite, and pyroxene, running 

 along under the basaltic precipice — upwards of a thousand 

 feet high — which serves as a kind of plinth to the mountain; 

 was the only standing room this part of the coast afforded. 



