time; and I have known it pretty hot there--hot enough
to set the icebergs melting, and the water rushing down their sides in
fountains. Now and then, when the under part is worn away, they get
top-heavy, and over they go, just like a porpoise making a somersault.
It does not do to be near them on those occasions, for they'd send the
stoutest ship to the bottom in a moment; and even at a distance I have
known bits of ice come down on the deck big enough to crack a
blackamoor's head, though we were many fathoms off it.

"As I said, the summer is short, and that is the only time ships can
sail about, and make their way among the ice. Then comes the winter,
and terribly long that is; it lasts well-nigh ten months, and for all
that time the ship is shut up just as fast as if she was in a dock with
the entrance closed by stone. There she lies, housed over, with
topgallant-masts struck, and if it was not for the stoves below, which
must be kept alight at all hours of the day and night, people would be
frozen to death: I have heard, indeed, of a whole ship's company being
turned into ice. For many days during the time the sun is below the
horizon, and there is one long night; the stars, however, when the sky
is clear, shine brightly, and sometimes the Northern lights blaze up and
sparkle, and people can see their way over the ice, but it is not
pleasant travelling, and one has to wear wonderfully thick clothing, and
mits on the hands, and to cover up all but the eyes, nose, and mouth, or
a man would get frost--bitten very quickly. Then bears come prowling
about, and they are awkward customers to meet alone, for they have
powerful jaws and sharp claws, and one hug is enough to squeeze the
breath out of a person. They have carried off many a poor fellow who
has wandered away from his ship. Besides the bears there are Arctic
foxes, with white fur, and though they do not attack a fellow on his
feet with a thick stick in his hand, yet I do not know how they would
treat him if they found him lying down unable to defend himself.

"Sometimes ships, before they can get into harbour, are caught in the
ice, and have to pass the winter out in the sea, if they have time to
cut a dock before the ice presses on them. They may thus be tolerably
secure, but I have known ships to be crushed to atoms before they have
had time to do that, and their crews have had to get on board other
ships, or make for the land, and spend the winter the