s
strange sailing, which seemed as long as a century, she fell back on
the other side of the obstacle on a field of ice; she broke it with
her weight, and fell back into her natural element.

"We have got by the thick ice!" shouted Johnson, who had run forward.

"Thank God!" said Hatteras.

[Illustration]

In fact, the brig lay in the centre of a basin of ice, which entirely
surrounded her, and although her keel lay under water she could not
stir; but if she were motionless, the field was drifting along.

"We are drifting, Captain!" shouted Johnson.

"All right," answered Hatteras.

Indeed, how was it possible to resist it?

Day broke, and it was evident that under the influence of a submarine
current the bank of ice was floating northward with great rapidity.
This floating mass carried the _Forward_ with it, in the midst of the
ice-field, the edge of which could not be seen; to provide for any
accident that might happen, Hatteras had a large supply of provisions
carried on deck, as well as materials for camping, clothing, and
cover; as MacClure had done under similar circumstances, he surrounded
the ship with hammocks filled with air to protect her from damage.
Soon it was so cold (7 degrees), that the ship was surrounded by a
wall from which only the masts issued.

For seven days they sailed in this way; Point Albert, which forms the
western extremity of New Cornwall, was seen September 10th, and soon
disappeared; the ice-field was seen to be drifting eastward from that
time. Where was it going? Where would it stop? Who could say?

The crew waited with folded arms. At last, September 15th, towards
three o'clock in the afternoon, the ice-field, having probably run
against another one, stopped suddenly; the ship was jarred violently;
Hatteras, who had kept his reckoning all along, looked at his chart;
he found himself in the north, with no land in sight, in longitude 95
degrees 35 minutes, and latitude 78 degrees 15 minutes, in the centre
of the region of the unknown sea, which geographers have considered
the place of greatest cold.

CHAPTER XXIV.
PREPARATIONS FOR WINTERING.

The same latitude is colder in the southern than in the northern
hemisphere; but the temperature of the New World is fifteen degrees
beneath that of the other parts of the world; and in America these
countries, known under the name of the region of greatest cold, are
the most inclement.

The mean temperature for the whole