CHAPTER IX. 
"We pursued our way, flapping lazily along side of 
the "pack," and sometimes forcing an opening through 
its projecting tongues. On the morning of the 3d, 
while beating between the ice and the shore, we stood 
close in to a lofty headland, known as Svartehuk, or 
Black Head. This dark promontory deserves its 
name. It is of the usual metamorphic structure, ow- 
ing its color to the hornblende it contains. The re- 
treating character of the coast to the north and south 
of it, makes it a noted landmark among the whalers. 
At the distance of three miles, I sketched an escarped 
section of it, discolored by iron-clay conglomerates, and 
exhibiting a gnarled and irregular structure. 
