sloping gently; a few patches of snow,
preserved either by their position or the slope of the rocks, gave it
a woolly appearance, like waves in a high wind. The country was still
barren, and looking as if no living being had ever set foot in it.

"We have no luck," said Altamont to the doctor; "to be sure, the
country doesn't offer much food to animals, but the game here ought
not to be over-particular, and ought to show itself."

"Don't let us despair," said the doctor; "the summer has hardly begun;
and if Parry met so many animals at Melville Island, we may be as
lucky here."

[Illustration]

"Still, we are farther north," said Hatteras.

"Certainly, but that is unimportant; it is the pole of cold we ought
to consider; that is to say, that icy wilderness in the middle of
which we wintered with the _Forward_; now the farther north we go, the
farther we are from the coldest part of the globe; we ought to find,
beyond, what Parry, Ross, and others found on the other side."

"Well," said Altamont, with a regretful sigh, "so far we've been
travellers rather than hunters."

"Be patient," answered the doctor; "the country is changing gradually,
and I should be astonished if we don't find game enough in the ravines
where vegetation has had a chance to sprout."

"It must be said," continued Altamont, "that we are going through an
uninhabited and uninhabitable country."

"O, uninhabitable is a strong word!" answered the doctor; "I can't
believe any land uninhabitable; man, by many sacrifices, and for
generations using all the resources of science, might finally
fertilize such a country."

[Illustration]

"Do you think so?" asked Altamont.

"Without doubt! If you were to go to the celebrated countries of the
world, to Thebes, Nineveh, or Babylon, in the fertile valleys of our
ancestors, it would seem impossible that men should ever have lived
there; the air itself has grown bad since the disappearance of human
beings. It is the general law of nature which makes those countries in
which we do not live unhealthy and sterile, like those out of which
life has died. In fact, man himself makes his own country by his
presence, his habits, his industry, and, I might add, by his breath;
he gradually modifies the exhalations of the soil and the atmospheric
conditions, and he makes the air he breathes wholesome. So there are
uninhabited lands, I grant, but none uninhabitable."

Talking in this way, the hunters, who had be