Page:The open Polar Sea- a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States" (IA openpolarseanarr1867haye).pdf/294

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and Jensen, I set out at an early hour toward a point on the north side of the bay, from which I could command a view of the southern horizon. We had much difficulty in reaching our destination. The open water came nearly a mile within the point for which we were bound, and it was no easy task picking our way along the sloping drifts of the ice-foot. But we were at last successful, and reached our look-out station (hereafter to be known as Sunrise Point) with half an hour to spare.

The day was far from a pleasant one for a holiday excursion. The temperature was very low, and the wind, blowing quite freshly, brought the drifting snow down from the mountains, and rattled it about us rather sharply. But we were amply repaid by the view which was spread out before us.

An open sea lay at our feet and stretched far away to the front and right of us as we faced the south. Numerous bergs were dotted over it, but otherwise it was mainly free from ice. Its surface was much agitated by the winds, which kept it from freezing, and the waves were dancing in the cold air as if in very mockery of the winter. It was indeed a vast bubbling caldron,—seething, and foaming, and emitting vapors. The light curling streams of "frost smoke" which rose over it sailed away on the wind toward the southwest, and there mingled with a dark mist-bank. Little streams of young ice, as if struggling to bind the waves, rattled and crackled over the restless waters. To the left, the lofty coast mountains stood boldly up in the bright air, and near Cape Alexander the glacier peeped from between them, coming down the valley with a gentle slope from the broad mer de glace. The bold front of Crystal Palace Cliffs cut