132 
A VOYAGE TO SPITZBEBGEN. 
danger. We were steering amongst very heavy- 
lumps of ice, and the cry of “ Steady! ” “ About 
ship ! ” “ Port!” “ Starboard ! ” &c., gave work with¬ 
out a moment’s cessation to every man on board;; 
our craft worked to admiration, but received a bump- 
now and again, which it would have been impossible 
to avoid. The look-out man, aloft in the “ crow’s- 
nest,^” reported clear water (water between the loose 
pack and the fast ice) to the far north, and our hopes 
rose at the prospect of sailing in one of these deep 
bays, between the northern and the southern floe, that 
had been broken off in the early spring ; but our hope& 
are soon dashed by the information that the water is 
enclosed in ice, and that it is what the whalers call a 
lake, or hole, a vast space surrounded by ice, where the 
water within is in perpetual calm. In an interval when 
our main opponent, the fog , lifted from the surface,, 
and disclosed the whole scene, we discovered that the 
ice forming the northern shore of the lake was perfectly 
smooth, and there were indications, besides, that game 
abounded in that direction. No time is lost in getting 
ready a hunting party, and we go in quest of the 
seals we had seen through the misty air; but who 
shall describe our disappointment, after climbing over 
and crossing a high hummock, on finding the ice floe in¬ 
capable of bearing our weight ? We made the attempt^. 
