, he tried to give chase to them by means of the canoe;
but the animal, of a rather warlike disposition, rapidly led away
its offspring, and consequently the doctor was compelled to renounce
following them up.

Chilly Cape was doubled during the night under the influence of a
favourable wind, and soon the high mountains of Disko rose in the
horizon. Godhavn Bay, the residence of the Governor-General of the
Danish Settlements, was left to the right. Shandon did not consider
it worth while to stop, and soon outran the Esquimaux pirogues who
were endeavouring to reach his ship.

The Island of Disko is also called Whale Island. It was from this
point that on the 12th of July, 1845, Sir John Franklin wrote to the
Admiralty for the last time. It was also on that island on the 27th
of August, 1859, that Captain McClintock set foot on his return,
bringing back, alas! proofs too complete of the loss of the expedition.
The coincidence of these two facts were noted by the doctor; that
melancholy conjunction was prolific in memories, but soon the heights
of Disko disappeared from his view.

There were, at that time, numerous icebergs on the coasts, some of
those which the strongest thaws are unable to detach; the continual
series of ridges showed themselves under the strangest forms.

The next day, towards three o'clock, they were bearing on to Sanderson
Hope to the north-east. Land was left on the starboard at a distance
of about fifteen miles; the mountains seemed tinged with a
red-coloured bistre. During the evening, several whales of the
finners species, which have fins on their backs, came playing about
in the midst of the ice-trails, throwing out air and water from their
blow-holes. It was during the night between the 3rd and 4th of May
that the doctor saw for the first time the sun graze the horizon
without dipping his luminous disc into it. Since the 31st of January
the days had been getting longer and longer till the sun went down
no more. To strangers not accustomed to the persistence of this
perpetual light it was a constant subject of astonishment, and even
of fatigue; it is almost impossible to understand to what extent
obscurity is requisite for the well-being of our eyes. The doctor
experienced real pain in getting accustomed to this light, rendered
still more acute by the reflection of the sun's rays upon the plains
of ice.

On May 5th the _Forward_ headed the seventy-second parallel; two
months later they wo