Page:The open Polar Sea- a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States" (IA openpolarseanarr1867haye).pdf/146

 and barked and rejoiced in their short-lived liberty!

If the reader has ever chanced to drive a pair of unruly horses for a few hours, and has had occasion to find rest for his aching arms on a long, steep hill, he will understand the satisfaction which I took in finding the power returning to mine. I could again use the whip, and managed to turn the intractable team among a cluster of hummocks and snow-drifts, which somewhat impeded their progress. Springing suddenly off, I caught the upstander and capsized the sledge. The points of the runners were driven deeply into the snow, and my runaways were anchored. A vigorous application of my sinew-tipped lash soon convinced them of the advantages of obedience, and when I turned up the sledge and gave them the signal to start they trotted off in the meekest manner possible, facing the wind without rebelling, and giving me no further trouble. I think they will remember the lesson—and so shall I.

But I set out to record my journey up the Fiord. Reaching the head of it after a most exhilarating ride, we managed, with some difficulty, to cross the tide-*cracks, and scrambled over the ice-foot to the land. Here we came upon a broad and picturesque valley, bounded on either side by lofty cliffs—at its further end lay a glacier, with a pool of water a mile long occupying the middle distance. This pool is fed from the glacier and the hill-sides, down which pour the waters of the melting snows of summer. The discharge from it into the sea is made through a rugged gorge which bears evidence of being filled with a gushing stream in the thaw season. Its banks are lined in places with beds of turf, (dried and hardened