TERRA F I R M A. 
289 
the leaders of our winter’s team, and we could not bear 
the sacrifice. 
I need not detail our journey any farther. Within 
a day or two we shot another seal, and from that time 
forward had a full supply of food. 
On the 1st of August we sighted the Devil’s Thumb, 
and were again among the familiar localities of the 
whalers’ battling-ground. The bay was quite open, 
and we had been making easting for two days before. 
We were soon among the Duck Islands, and, passing 
to the south of Cape Shackleton, prepared to land. 
“ Terra firma! Terra firma!” How very pleasant it 
was to look upon, and with what a tingle of excited 
thankfulness we drew near it! A little time to seek a 
cove among the wrinkled hills, a little time to ex¬ 
change congratulations, and then our battered boats 
were hauled high and dry upon the rocks, and our 
party, with hearts full of our deliverance, lay down 
to rest. 
And now, with the apparent certainty of reaching 
our homes, came that nervous apprehension which 
follows upon hope long deferred. I could not trust 
myself to take the outside passage, but timidly sought 
the quiet-water channels running deep into the archi¬ 
pelago which forms a sort of labyrinth along the 
coast. 
Thus it was that at one of our sleeping-halts upon 
the rocks—for we still adhered to the old routine— 
Petersen awoke me with a story. He had just seen 
and recognised a native, who, in his frail kayak, was 
Voi. II.—19 
