90 THE WORLD OF ICE.

masses of sludge; or occasionally, when unable to
advance farther, making fast to a large berg or a
field. They were compelled to proceed north, how-
ever, in consequence of the pack having become fixed
towards the south, and thus rendering retreat impos-
sible in that direction until the ice should be again
set in motion. Captain Guy, however, saw, by the
steady advance of the larger bergs, that the current
of the ocean in that place flowed southward, and
trusted that in a short time the ice which had been
foreed into the strait by the late gales would be
released, and open up a passage. Meanwhile he
pushed along the coast, examining every bay and
inlet in the hope of discovering some trace of the
Pole Star or her crew.

On the day about which we are writing, the ship
was beset by large fields, the snow-white surfaces of
which extended north and south to the horizon, while
on the east the clitis rose in dark, frowning precipices
from the midst of the glaciers that encumber them all
the year round.

Tt was a lovely Arctic day. The sun shone with
unclouded splendour, and the bright air, which trem-
bled with that liquidity of appearance that one oeca-
sionally sees in very hot weather under peculiar
circumstances, was vocal with the wild music of
thousands of gulls, and auks, and other sca-birds,
which clustered on the neighbouring clifis and flew
overhead in clouds. Ali round the pure surfaces of
the ice-tields were broken by the shadows which the