CHAP. VI.] TWO BERGS DISCOVERED. 427 



was indistinctly seen, bearing E.S.E. ; but the 

 return of the mist again obscured it, and left us 

 ignorant of what part it was. Immense flocks 

 of loons kept constantly flying in every direction, 

 betraying a restlessness altogether unaccountable. 

 There was no lack of water, which, however, 

 they seemed to disregard ; so that had not we 

 caught a glimpse of our position, I should have 

 certainly thought we were not far from the rocks 

 where they roosted. Not long after this, two 

 bergs were discovered ; and the wind having 

 veered to north-west, and the ice become more 

 apart, I determined on casting off from what 

 had carried us safely through three days of mist. 

 I was utterly at a loss to know whether the ship 

 was north or south of her last ascertained posi- 

 tion ; but, as the horizon was visible for about four 

 miles, and nothing appeared to indicate land, we 

 warped a short distance, and then made sail. 

 The ice continued slack, and we had the satis- 

 faction to find that the ship glided through the 

 water, though not without the usual penalty of 

 some severe shocks, which made her tremble to 

 her very keel. The carpenter had been assidu- 

 ously employed in an attempt to force up a 

 quantity of oakum and tallow between the 

 doubling and the rents in the stern-post, in the 

 hope of choking some portion of the leaks 

 thereabouts j and the experiment, so far as he 



