Page:The open Polar Sea- a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States" (IA openpolarseanarr1867haye).pdf/384

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great a distance of ice between us and Port Foulke, Jensen, whose experience in the rapid dissolution of ice about Upernavik, at the same season of the year, had brought him into many serious difficulties, kept a sharp eye open upon our line of retreat. But danger from a general break-up I did not consider as likely to come for at least a month. Yet the spring (if such it might be called) was approaching rapidly, as was shown by the appearance of birds. As I stood upon the hill-side some little snow-buntings came chirping about me, and a burgomaster-gull flew over our heads wheeling his flight northward. He seemed to have caught the sound of tumbling seas, and was leading his mate, who came sailing along after him with modest mien, to a nuptial retreat on some wave-licked island; and he screamed as if he would inquire, were we too bound on the same errand. A raven, too, came and perched himself upon a cliff above our camp, and croaked a dismal welcome, or a warning. One of these birds had kept us company through the winter, and this one looked very much as if he was bent upon adhering to my fortunes; though, I suppose, in truth, he was only looking for crumbs. He stuck by us for several days, and always dropped down into our abandoned camp as soon as we were on our way.

The coast along which we were now traveling possessed much interest. It presented a line of very lofty cliffs of silurian rocks —sandstone and lime-**