218 
LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES. 
down went tlie helm,—about came the ship,—and the 
critical part of the business commenced. Of course, in 
order to wind and twist the schooner in and out among 
the devious channels left between the hummocks, it was 
necessary she should have considerable way on her; 
at the same time so narrow were some of the passages, 
and so sharp their turnings, that unless she had been 
the most handy vessel in the world, she would have 
had a very narrow squeak for it. I never saw anything 
so beautiful as her behaviour. Had she been a living 
creature, she could not have dodged, and wound, and 
doubled, with more conscious cunning and dexterity; 
and it was quite amusing to hear the endearing way in 
which the people spoke to her, each time the nimble 
creature contrived to elude some more than usually 
threatening tongue of ice. Once or twice, in spite 
of all our exertions, it was impossible to save her 
from a collision; all that remained to be done, as 
soon as it became evident she could not clear some 
particular floe, or go about in time to avoid it,—was 
to haul the staysail sheet a-weather in order to deaden 
her way as much as possible, and—putting the helm 
down—let her go right at it, so that she should receive 
