302 
THE BIRDS APPEAR. 
mysterious water, was, as the crow flies, one hundred 
and six miles. But for the unusual sight of birds and 
the unmistakable giving way of the ice beneath them, 
they would not have believed in the evidence of eye¬ 
sight. Neither Hans nor Morton was prepared for it. 
Landing on the cape, and continuing their explora¬ 
tion, new phenomena broke upon them. They were 
on the shores of a channel, so open that a frigate, or a 
fleet of frigates, might have sailed up it. The ice, 
already broken and decayed, formed a sort of horse- 
shoe-shaped beach, against which the waves broke in 
surf. As they travelled north, this channel expanded 
into an iceless area; “ for four or five small pieces”_ 
lumps—were all that could be seen over the entire 
surface of its white-capped waters. Viewed from the 
cliffs, and taking thirty-six miles as the mean radius 
open to reliable survey, this sea had a justly-estimated 
extent of more than four thousand square miles. 
Animal life, which had so long been a stranger to us 
to the south, now burst upon them. At Rensselaer 
Harbor, except the Netsik seal or a rarely-encountered 
Harelda, we had no life available for the hunt. But 
here the Brent goose, (Anas lernicla,) the eider, and 
the king 'duck, were so crowded together that our 
Esquimaux killed two at a shot with a single rifle-ball. 
The Brent goose had not been seen before since 
entering Smith’s Straits. It is well known to the 
Polar traveller as a migratory bird of the American 
continent. Like the others of the same family, it 
feeds upon vegetable matter, generally on marine 
