the infinite delight of all on board her,
abundance of clear water was found between the main island and its smaller
neighbours. The bergs had grounded apparently, as they drew near the
group, leaving this large bay entirely free from ice, with the exception
of a few small masses that were floating through it. These bodies, whether
field or berg, were easily avoided; and away the schooner went, with
flowing sheets, into the large basin formed by the different members of
the group. To render 'assurance doubly sure,' as to the information of
Daggett, the smoke of a volcano arose from a rock to the eastward, that
appeared to be some three or four miles in circumference, and which stood
on the eastern side of the great basin, or some four leagues from
Sealer's Land, as Daggett had at once named the principal island. This
was, in fact, about the breadth of the main basin, which had two principal
passages into it, the one from the south and the other from the
north-east.

Once within the islands, and reasonably clear of all ice, it was an easy
thing for the schooner to run across the basin, or great bay, and reach
the north-eastern extremity of Sealer's Land. As the light would continue
some hours longer, there being very little night in that high latitude in
December, the month that corresponds to our June, Roswell caused a boat to
be lowered and manned, when he pulled at once towards the spot where it
struck him the haven must be found, if there were any such place at all.
Everything turned out as it had been described by Daggett, and great was
our young man's satisfaction when he rowed into a cove that was little
more than two hundred yards in diameter, and which was so completely
land-locked as not to feel the influence of any sea outside. In general,
the great difficulty is to land on any of the antarctic rocks, the
breakers and surf opposing it; but, in this spot, the smallest boat could
be laid with its bows on a beach of shingles, without the slightest risk
of its being injured. The lead also announced good anchorage in about
eight fathoms of water. In a word, this little haven was one of those
small basins that so often occur in mountainous islands, where fragments
of rock appear to have fallen from the principal mass as it was forced
upward out of the ocean, as if purposely intended to meet the wants of
mariners.

Nor was the outer bay, or the large basin formed by the entire group, by
any means devoid of advantage