k at those birds," he said to Johnson one day; "they are emigrating
south in flocks! They are shrieking out their good-byes!"

"Yes, Mr. Clawbonny, some instinct tells them they must go, and they
set out."

"There's more than one amongst us who would like to imitate them,
I think."

"They are cowards, Mr. Clawbonny; those animals have no provisions
as we have, and are obliged to seek their food where it is to be found.
But sailors, with a good ship under their feet, ought to go to the
world's end."

"You hope that Hatteras will succeed, then?"

"He certainly will, Mr. Clawbonny."

"I am of the same opinion as you, Johnson, and if he only wanted one
faithful companion----"

"He'll have two!"

"Yes, Johnson," answered the doctor, shaking hands with the brave
sailor.

Prince Albert Land, which the _Forward_ was then coasting, bears also
the name of Grinnell Land, and though Hatteras, from his hatred to
the Yankees, would never call it by its American name, it is the one
it generally goes by. It owes its double appellation to the following
circumstances: At the same time that Penny, an Englishman, gave it
the name of Prince Albert, Lieutenant Haven, commander of the _Rescue_,
called it Grinnell Land in honour of the American merchant who had
fitted out the expedition from New York at his own expense. Whilst
the brig was coasting it, she experienced a series of unheard-of
difficulties, navigating sometimes under sail, sometimes by steam.
On the 18th of August they sighted Britannia Mountain, scarcely
visible through the mist, and the _Forward_ weighed anchor the next
day in Northumberland Bay. She was hemmed in on all sides.

CHAPTER XXIII

ATTACKED BY ICEBERGS

Hatteras, after seeing to the anchoring of his ship, re-entered his
cabin and examined his map attentively. He found himself in latitude
76 degrees 57 minutes and longitude 99 degrees 20 minutes--that is
to say, at only three minutes from the 77th parallel. It was at this
very spot that Sir Edward Belcher passed his first winter with the
_Pioneer_ and the _Assistance_. It was thence that he organised his
sledge and boat excursions. He discovered Table Isle, North Cornwall,
Victoria Archipelago, and Belcher Channel. He reached the 78th
parallel, and saw that the coast was depressed on the south-east.
It seemed to go down to Jones's Strait, the entrance to which lies
in Baffin's Bay. But to the north-west, on the contrary, says his
report, an