bobbing up and down in this way
forever. The experiment was successful; and the next time that I
descended, I came gently, not into the water, but into a soft yielding
drift of snow, which entirely broke the force of my fall.

I felt sure now that all was right; and, scrambling out of the snow, I
looked about to see where I was. All around, in every direction, there
was an open sea extending to the horizon; and it was evident that I had
lighted upon an iceberg, which had floated northward from a more
southern region. After I had refreshed myself with a little food, I
proceeded to explore the frozen island, of which I had so unexpectedly
become the sole proprietor.

I am afraid that some of my readers may think that there is a tone of
exaggeration in my story as I proceed to narrate what I found there.
Thus far, it must be allowed by all that I have kept within range of
_possibility_, if not of probability; I have been careful to explain
minutely and scientifically just how every thing came about; and if it
should ever become as familiar a thing to travel _through_ the earth as
it is now to shoot over its surface on railroads, and send messages
instantaneously from one end of the world to the other, this narrative
will not sound so very strange after all. But in telling what I found on
the iceberg, and what happened to me there, I may have to tax somewhat
the credulity of my readers.

CHAPTER IV. AND LAST.

HOW JOHN WHOPPER GOT ALONG AT THE NORTH POLE.

I shall now give the general result of an exploration of the iceberg,
which occupied me for several days. I use the word _day_ in the ordinary
sense, as indicating a period of twenty-four hours; although, during my
stay in the arctic region, the daylight was perpetual. This frozen
island, which was to be for a time my habitation, extended, so far as I
could judge, over an area of about five hundred acres; but there were
certain marks about the surface and cleavages on the sides, which
indicated that it was originally of much greater size. It was also very
evident that it had assumed its form, and been detached from the shore,
at some point on the coast many degrees remote from its present
position, and had then been driven towards the pole by some
extraordinary current into which it had happened to fall. At some former
period, this iceberg must have floated, or been stationary, in a region
where game abounded and birds were plenty; where vessels sailed, and