206 LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES. [XI. 



how many feet, into the air over the stern. Like a lion 

 walking on its hind legs, it comes straight at you, roaring 

 and shaking its white mane with fury — it overtakes the ves- 

 sel — the upright shiny face curves inwards — the white mane 

 seems to hang above your very head ; but ere it topples 

 over, the nimble little ship has already slipped from under- 

 neath. You hear the disappointed jaws of the sea-monster 

 snap angrily together, — the schooner disdainfully kicks up 

 her heel — and raging and bubbling up on either side the 

 quarter, the unpausing wave sweeps on, and you see its 

 round back far ahead, gradually swelling upwards, as it 

 gathers strength and volume for a new effort. 



We had now got considerably to the southward of North 

 Cape. We had already seen several ships, and you would 

 hardly imagine with what childish delight my people hailed 

 these symptoms of having again reached more " Christian 

 latitudes," as they called them. 



I had always intended, ever since my conversation with 

 Mr. T. about the Malstrom, to have called in at Loffoden 

 Islands on our way south, and ascertain for myself the real 

 truth about this famous vortex. To have blotted such a 

 bugbear out of the map of Europe, if its existence really 

 was a myth, would at all events have rendered our cruise not 

 altogether fruitless. But, since leaving Spitzbergen, we had 

 never once seen the sun, and to attempt to make so dan- 

 gerous a coast in a gale of wind and a thick mist, with no 

 more certain knowledge of the ship's position than our dead 

 reckoning afforded, was out of the question ; so about one 

 o'clock in the morning, the weather giving no signs of im- 

 provement, the course I had shaped in the direction of the 

 island was altered, and we stood away again to the south- 

 ward. This manoeuvre was not unobserved by Wilson, but 

 he mistook its meaning. Having, I suppose, overheard us 

 talking at dinner about the Malstrom, he now concluded the 

 supreme hour had arrived. He did not exactly comprehend 

 the terms we used, but had gathered that the spot was one 

 fraught with danger. Concluding from the change made 



