wever, the snow was melting
everywhere beneath the sun; the salt-water, which overran the
ice-field through the crevasses and the seal-holes, hastened the
melting; the ice which was mingled with salt-water formed a soft
slush. Large pools appeared on the land near the bay, and the exposed
soil seemed to be a production of the arctic spring.

[Illustration]

The doctor then resumed his planting; he had plenty of seed; besides,
he was surprised to see a sort of sorrel growing naturally between the
dried rocks, and he wondered at the force of nature which demanded so
little in order to manifest itself. He sowed some cresses, of which
the young sprouts, three weeks later, were already an inch long.

The heath began to show timidly its little pale, rosy flowers. In
fact, the flora of New America is very defective; still, this rare
vegetation was agreeable to their eyes; it was all the feeble rays of
the sun could nourish, a trace of the Providence which had not
completely forgotten these distant countries. At last it became really
warm; June 15th the thermometer stood at 57 degrees; the doctor could
hardly believe his eyes; the country changed its appearance; numerous
noisy cascades fell from the sunny summits of the hills; the ice
loosened, and the great question of an open sea would soon be decided.
The air was full of the noise of avalanches falling from the hills to
the bottom of the ravines, and the cracking of the ice-field produced
a deafening sound.

A trip was made to Johnson Island; it was merely an unimportant, arid,
barren island; but the old boatswain was no less proud of giving his
name to a few desolate rocks. He even wanted to carve it on a high
peak. During this excursion, Hatteras had carefully explored these
lands, even beyond Cape Washington; the melting of the snow sensibly
changed the country; ravines and hillocks appeared here and there,
where the snow indicated nothing but monotonous stretches. The house
and magazines threatened to melt away, and they had frequently to be
repaired; fortunately, a temperature of 57 degrees is rare in these
latitudes, and the mean is hardly above the freezing-point.

By the middle of June the launch was far advanced and getting into
shape. While Bell and Johnson were working at it, the others had a few
successful hunts. Reindeer were shot, although they are hard to
approach; but Altamont put in practice a device employed by the
Indians of his own country; he crept