TRAPPERS 31 



tear myself from this magnificent view, but it 

 was already midnight. We made fast to land 

 ice, and I retired, after thanking God and the 

 Virgin for having watched over us and brought 

 us safely through the perils of the Greenland 

 seas. 



The following day we sought to continue 

 coasting to Wollaston Foreland, a passage 

 which, under normal conditions, presents little 

 or no difficulty. An enormous, far-extended ice- 

 field, however, barred the way on this occasion, 

 threatening to drive us aground. For three 

 days we were compelled to skirt this ice-field, 

 feeling our way through thick mists and harassed 

 by a south-easterly wind which had arisen to 

 dispel the fine weather we had so far enjoyed. 



Tuesday, July i, the weather cleared. We 

 were again able to see Mount Saddle and the 

 Wollaston Foreland, and we set our course for 

 Sabine Island. 



A fjord, called the Gripper Roads, separates 

 Sabine Island from the foreland, and here we 

 discovered another group of trappers. 



Slowly we neared the land, the black and 

 rugged heights of the Sabine and Pendulum 

 Islands growing more and more distinct, while 

 far away on the horizon, a dark speck, was Bass 

 Rock Island. Away to the left we obtained a 



