SEA BIRDS. 
91 
but for certain indelible marks caused by the expo¬ 
sure and incessant toil at the pumps, seemed as 
capable of enduring the vicissitudes of many a future 
year’s Arctic voyaging as the ablest seaman on board 
our schooner. 
For two days we have the dense fog thick about us. 
It is in vain we strain our eyes in the direction of Van 
Mayen’s Island, whose snow-clad peaks of Beerenberg 
have often been seen at a distance of ninety miles; 
but we know that we are in the vicinity of land by 
the presence of sea-birds on the wing, whose flight is 
ever round the ship and towards the land we cannot 
see. Has not Providence placed these winged mes¬ 
sengers of warning to protect the heedless sailor from 
rushing on a dismal fate ? This rock-bound rugged 
