THE LAST OF THE JEANNETTE. 545 



the first land that has greeted our eyes since March 

 24, 1880, nearly fourteen months ago. And our voy- 

 age, thank God, is not a perfect blank, for here we 

 have discovered something, however small it may be. 

 Some fog is resting over it, and to the right hand or 

 northward of it, and we do not think we see all of our 

 wonderful landfall. Bearings I take at once, and find 

 our island bears S. 78° 45' W. (magnetic), or (the va- 

 riation being 18° E.) N. 83° 15' W. (true), but we 

 can do nothing more. Its distance we cannot esti- 

 mate. If low land comparatively, it may be forty 

 miles distant (see our idea of Herald Island's distance), 

 and if high land seventy to eighty miles. But after 

 a number of days, if we change the bearing of it to 

 some extent, I can compute its distance, and deter- 

 mine if, and in what manner, we can land upon and 

 take possession of and explore our discovery. Cooped 

 up as we have been for over twenty months, we shall 

 enjoy getting our foot on solid earth or stone as much 

 as if it were Central Park, for it will be a change. But 

 whether it will be earth or stone we do not know of 

 course. What this poor desolate island, standing among 

 icy wastes, may have to do in the economy of nature I 

 do not know, or in fact care. It is solid land, whether 

 of volcanic origin or otherwise, and will stand still long 

 enough to let a man" realize where he is. Moreover, 

 this must be the spot to which the ducks and geese 

 have been steadily flying, and if we can get some of 

 them for a change to our canned meats, what a treat ! 

 And then bears must swarm on our island ! In fine, 

 this island is to us our all in all. We gaze at it, we 

 criticise it, we guess at its distance, we wish for a favor- 

 ing gale to drive us towards it, and no doubt we would 

 accept an assertion that it contained a gold mine which 



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