A Land of Ice 29 



the weapon buried in my body, when the healing sea 

 would soon close up the wound. 



Then, feeling that such a neighbourhood was un- 

 pleasant to remain in, our chief led us farther south, 

 to where a group of mountains just raised their heads 

 from the tremendous depths to a little above the 

 surface. Here, he said, he had never known man come 

 even in the days when few haunts of our people were 

 secure. Yet here we had almost all lost our lives 

 through a singular misfortune which befell us. We 

 had entered a little bay scooped out of one of the 

 mountain-sides, with a very narrow neck, not much 

 larger than would admit one of us at a time. At the 

 entrance it was shallow, but within it widened and 

 deepened so much that it was an ideal place to rest in. 

 while from the surface on either side the steep walls 

 of cliff rose sheer for a great height. And it was 

 literally crawling with huge cuttles, our natural and 

 greatly-loved food. 



Here we were feeding in perfect content, and I had 

 almost forgotten my recent adventure, when suddenly 

 a chill struck through my very marrow ; I felt as if 

 my vital forces were about to cease their duties. We 

 all felt it at the same time — that dread cold which is 

 the horror of the Sperm Whale, and makes him avoid, 

 as if it were a plague-spot, the vicinity of ice. But, 

 the first shock of alarm over, we sought the cause, and 

 found to our dismay that the narrow entrance was 

 entirely blocked by a monstrous iceberg, which had 

 drifted in there and become jammed between the jaws 

 of the pass. So were we all prisoners, and at the mercy 

 of the cold, nor could our instincts tell us how great 

 the danger was or what were our chances of escape. 

 My first impulse was to dash wildly at that great white 

 wall that blocked the way to liberty ; but, fortunately, 



