POST NUBTLA PHCEBUS. 141 



3000 feet high. In tlie neighbourhood were countless 

 icebergs, some of which were fast to the ground. We 

 passed through the middle of them; and on the 19th, 

 drifting swiftly along within six nautical miles from 

 land, we nearly ran on to one. When, however, we were 

 within twenty-five paces from the monster, the ice- 

 current stopped, and for three hours we lay completely 

 still. Then the ice loosened once more, and the journey 

 began quicker than before. A collision, perhaps the 

 total destruction of our floe, seemed imminent ; for 

 twenty minutes we were in the greatest danger, and 

 looked on at the grand spectacle with breathless atten- 

 tion. The nearest part of the berg was a firm, connected 

 mass. Farther on its build, under the combined in- 

 fluence of sun and water, had been worn into maofni- 

 ficent cliffs and gateways. On the south side was an 

 aperture which seemed broad and high enough to hold 

 a ship as large as the Hansa. As we came nearer the 

 mass, we suddenly saw directly above us numerous points 

 and jagged spikes ; one projecting angle indeed we could 

 grasp. " We are lost !" such was the thought of each of 

 us. But — wonderful ! our floe was unshaken ; it did not 

 even graze it. Small pieces of floating ice which sur- 

 rounded it served both as "fender" and protector to 

 our raft from this fatal collision. The berg once behind 

 us, we drifted for some time in open water, which had 

 collected itself here as in the wake of a ship. 



On the 18th of March, in latitude 64° 2', we took our 

 longitude. By the chronometer it was 40° 44' ^Y. Accord- 

 ing to the Coast Survey, however, it was 40° 0' W. So that 

 the land on Graah's chart is carried 44' too far to the east. 



On the 29th of March, to our great joy, we found 



