BLOCKING UP OP THE HANSA. 



95 



Wading through deep and superficially frozen snow, we 

 reached a high block of ice, which we named the 

 " Devil's Thumb," from the top of which a wider view 

 could be obtained. Sitting astride or lying on this, we 

 refreshed the inner man with a little " caraways," which 

 Bade had brought with him as a strengthener. Two 

 other colossal masses of ice, between which lay a pic- 



t: 5f«0CKidAi)ji.»XuAi 



THE DEVIL S THUMB. 



turesque narrow pass, we called the "Brandenburg Gate." 

 One of them we succeeded in climbing, by mounting 

 on one another's shoulders and then cutting steps with 

 a knife in the ice wall. Hildebrandt sketched the little 

 scene. Unfortunately the channel proved too narrow 

 to admit the vessel and soon the ice in it and 



