CHAPTER YI. 



■NTERING MELVILLE BAY. —THE MIDDLE ICE. —THE GREAT POLAR CURRENT 

 — A SNOW STOILM —ENCOUNTER \Vl'£ll AN ICEBERG. -MAKING CAPE YORK 

 -RESCUE OF HANS. 



The Sim was now no longer above the horizon at 

 midnight, and the nights were growing gloomy, a cir- 

 cnnistance which warned ns to additional carefulness. 



Notwithstanding our precautions, we narrowly es- 

 caped running upon a sunken reef which lies off the 

 Horse's Head, and is not laid down on the chart. We 

 came also among some ice-fields, the first that we had 

 yet encountered. The waves were rolling in threat- 

 eningly from the southwest, and the ice, tossing madly 

 upon them, gave us an uncomfortable sense of insecu- 

 rity ; but we escaped into clear water after receiving 

 a few thumns v/hich did no material damao:e to our 

 solid bows. 



Bv eio^ht o'clock in the mornino; we had Wilcox 

 Point clea,rly in view, and the Devil's Thumb loomed 

 above a light cloud which floated along its base. Be- 

 fore us lay Melville Ba}^ Climbing to the fore-yard. 

 I swept the horizon with my glass ; — there was no 

 ice in sight except here and there a vagrant berg. 

 To the westward an "ice-blink" showed us that the 

 " pack " lay there ; but before us all was clear, — notli- 

 ing in sight but the " swelling and limitless billows." 



No discovery of my life ever gave me greater grat- 

 ification. The fortunes of the expedition were, at 



