Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 1.djvu/45

24 with several "tongues" or spreading pieces below the water. With some difficulty I got on to it at a sloping part, and began to mount toward the summit. Several pinnacles, ravines, gorges, and deep cavities were displayed as I ascended; but decay was already making rapid progress, and evidently not long would elapse before the whole mass must fall to pieces. I succeeded, however, in reaching the top without danger, using a boat-hook as a sort of alpenstock to aid me.

ASCENT OF AN ICEBERG.

Here resting awhile, and drinking in the ocean scene around, with our ship on the blue waters awaiting us, I then descended.

On the way down I unfortunately trod on the rusty part of the boat-hook, and having my boots off for surer footing, received a rather bad wound, which confined me to a couch for some days.

Our progress towards Greenland was so tantalizingly slow, owing to calms and head winds, that a fourth Sunday passed over us while still at a considerable distance from Holsteinborg, Greenland, the port of rendezvous of the George Henry and Rescue.

Of these Sundays at sea it gives me pleasure to speak in