22 A LAND-FALL. 



The . following entry in my journal, made at this 

 period, will exhibit our condition and the temper of 

 the crew : — 



"Notwithstanding all this knocking about, every 

 body seems to take it for granted that this sort of 

 thing is very natural and proper, and a part of the 

 engagement for the cruise. It is at least gratifying 

 to see that they take kindly to discomfort, and receive 

 every freak of fortune with manly good nature. I 

 really believe that were affairs otherwise ordered they 

 would be sadly disappointed. They, are "the small 

 band of brave and spirited men " they read about in 

 the newspapers, and they mean to show it. The sail- 

 ors are sometimes literally drowned out of the fore- 

 castle. The cabin is flooded at least a dozen times a 

 day. The skylight has been knocked to pieces by the 

 head of a sea, and the table, standing directly under 

 it, has been more than once cleared of crockery and 

 eatables without the aid of the steward. My own 

 cabin gets washed out at irregular intervals, and my 

 books are half of them spoiled by tumbling from their 

 shelves in spite of all I can do to the contrary. Once 

 I caught the whole library tacking about the deck 

 after an unusually ambitious dive of the schooner, and 

 the advent of a more than ordinarily heavy rush of 

 water through the ' companion-way.' " 



It had been my intention to stop at Egedesmindie, 

 or some other of the lower Danish stations, on the 

 Greenland coast, to obtain a stock of furs, and at the 

 upper settlements to procure the needful supply of 

 dogs for sledge travelling ; but, the wind being fair, I 

 resolved to hold on and trust to obtaining every thing 

 required at Proven and Upernavik. 



We made our first land-fall on the 31st. It proved 



