CHAPTER VI. 



ENTERING MELVILLE BAY.— THE MIDDLE ICE.— THE GREAT POLAR CURRENT 



— A SNOW STORM —ENCOUNTER WITH AN ICEBERG. — MAKING CAPE YORK 



— RESCUE OF HANS. 



The sun was now no longer above the horizon at 

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

 cumstance which warned us 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 thumps which did no material damage to our 

 solid bows. 



By eight o'clock in the morning we had Wilcox 

 Point clearly in view, and the Devil's Thumb loomed 

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

 fore us lay Melville Bay. 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, — noth- 

 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 



