GOING- AHEAD. 
125 
We saw to-day two Eorqual whales {Rorqualis Bo- 
realis), apparently feeding upon these living waters. 
They were the first that we had seen since leaving 
Disco. We hailed them as an earnest of an open sea. 
As the day grew older, a breeze carried us along glo- 
riously. We made at least twenty miles upon our 
course ; and although we were forced to cut through 
some intercepting ice, it became evident that we had 
passed the trials of the hay, and were hourly approach- 
ing the North Water. 
The shore, which we had been so long skirtings 
again rose into mountains ; on whose southern flanks, 
as they receded, we could still see the great glacier. 
We had traced it all the way from the Devil’s Thumb 
in a nearly continuous circuit; now we were about 
to lose it. The icebergs had sensibly diminished al 
ready. 
•f 
■ =d 
