FROM THE SEPARATION OF THE SHIPS. 71 



It is almost incredible how much larger the ice-floes 

 appear in the fog. We seem, for instance, to be driving 

 at a hill, forty-five to fifty feet high ; and when we arrive 

 there, it is a small floe with a hummock of about ten feet ! 

 This delusion we had subsequently often to experience, 

 though at first it afforded us great ground for amuse- 

 ment. The ice had in the thick fog something altogether 

 spectral and gloomy in appearance ; but as to real danger 

 to the ship in this floating ice, where there are no ice- 

 bergs, there is none, except in a heavy sea, with storms 

 or calm. Towards evening the ice pressed closer and 

 closer around, so that to prevent ourselves being 

 enclosed, we had to keep more eastward. At two in 

 the morning we broke through the current, that is the 

 outer chain of floes, and saw at once by the wind- 

 ward roll that we were once more in the open sea, 

 where we had to lie by in expectation of better 

 weather. 



The floes lay so thick at the border, that with the faint 

 breeze the ship could not get through, and for the first 

 time we had to employ the long ice-hooks to push aside 

 those lying directly under our bow, or when very large, 

 to work the ship round them. It was a most agreeable 

 night ; and as it was the first time that the ship, in the 

 true sense of the word, had really come in contact with 

 the ice, all on deck willingly took a hand in the work 

 and made it a pleasure to get rid of the obstinate com- 

 panions that impeded the progress of our Germania. 

 Here we had the best opportunity of studying the con- 

 figuration of the floes somewhat more nearly. They were 

 mostly flat, and of the most varied form. We could see 

 at oncGj that warmth, air, sun, and wave-friction had been 



