60 COURSE OBSTRUCTED BY 



could have been found in that direction. The 

 most experienced of the seamen (many of whom 

 had spent their lives in the Greenland trade) 

 declared they had never beheld such heavy ice, 

 and were confident that it had never been broken 

 up. To me, however, it seemed to consist of 

 numerous floes, but so wedged together as to be 

 utterly impassable, not only by a ship but in any 

 way ; for so ragged and piled up was the entire 

 surface, that the height of the ridges frequently 

 exceeded fifteen feet, and no human being could, 

 by any exertion, have travelled over it for more 

 than a short distance. To those who were un- 

 accustomed to polar navigation nothing could 

 be more discouraging; for it required more than 

 ordinary strength of mind not to be persuaded 

 that, in this direction at least, a limit was now 

 put to our progress. Those, however, who had 

 experience of the singular uncertainty of the 

 navigation in these seas, looked forward to the 

 accidents of the coming night — the change of 

 wind, the tide or current, or some of those un- 

 accountable circumstances which, in a few hours 

 even of entire calm, create so sudden and mar- 

 vellous a change in the scene. Still, it was 

 a situation to call forth our most active energies ; 

 and, though resolved to persevere by this route 

 as long as the remotest chance was offered of 

 success, yet I could not conceal from myself the 



