The flinty biscuit, watching whale or seal, Or listening, undaunted, to the crunch Of ice-floes at the keel, Say, Sir Intrepid!

If he got across, the water was deep and he need only bother about the floes until he came to the Gulf.

They'd a bad voyage; thick mist down the St. Lawrence, and they lost a day cruising about among the floes in the Gulf.

The gale would drive the drift ice up the Gulf and pack the floes.

The easterly gale would send the floes up stream.

For another quarter of a minute, the two masters held their breath, expecting to see the deck rise beneath their feet, as the ice rose along the points of contact between the floes.

It did not appear probable to the two masters, however, that the vessel would be forced from its present berth, the rending and cracking of the ice sensibly diminishing, as the two floes came closer and closer together.

By some means that were not apparent, the floes were now actually separating, and at a rate of movement which much exceeded that of their junction.

The great depth of the bergs still prevented their coming within the cluster of islands, while their number and size completely stopped the floes from passing.

Soon after that the ice was divided into large floes.

They did not see the places where the gaps were so wide that they could not possibly jump over them, nor did they know where to find any floes that would hold them, so they wandered aimlessly back and forth, going farther out on the lake instead of nearer land.

Soon after that the ice-floes floated together, so that they could cross the gap.

They did not stop to look back at the lakewhere the waves were pitching the ice-floes faster and fasterbut ran on.

All the lakes and rivers in Uppland and the mining district quickly threw off their ice covers on one and the same day, so that the creeks filled with ice-floes which rose clear up to their banks.

But it is a social beast, and it wants to catch the bellowing of its fellows far across the foggy waste of ice-floes; and that little leather scoop standing behind the ear-hole seems to be just the instrument required to catch and send down those sounds which would otherwise glance off the glossy fur and never find entrance to the tiny orifice at all.

Singing how Winil men, Over the ice-floes Sledging from Scanland Came unto Scoring; Singing of Gambara, Freya's beloved, Mother of Ayo, Mother of Ibor.

Fortunately the floes there are wide enough apart to let our quarter-boats float between them.

" "Troth," said O'Riley, gazing round towards the land, where the distant cliffs loomed black and heavy in the fading light, and out upon the floes and hummocks, where the frost-smoke from pools of open water on the horizon circled round the pinnacles of the icebergs"troth, it's a cowld place intirely to go to wan's bed in, but that fat-faced Exqueemaw seems to be settin' about it quite coolly; so here goes!"

The team struggled and strained violently for a few seconds in their efforts to overcome the vis inertiæ of the sledge, and it seemed as if the traces would part; but they were made of tough walrus-hide, and held on bravely, while the heavy vehicle gradually fetched way, and at length flew over the floes at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour.

"Mind that you hug the land, Mr. Bolton," said the captain at parting; "don't get farther out on the floes than you can help.

On the left the cliffs referred to rose sheer up several hundred feet; on the right the ice-belt descended only about three feet to the floes.

The travellers pushed on as quickly as possible, for the precipices on their left forbade all hope of escape in that direction, while the gap between the ice-belt and the floes, which was filled with a gurgling mixture of ice and water, equally hemmed them in on the right.

Late in the day, by the bright light of the stars, the sailors and the Esquimaux left the snow-huts of the village, and travelling out to seaward on the floes, with dogs and sledges, lances and spears, advanced to do battle with the walrus.

At the end of the second day they buried part of their stock of provisions at the foot of a conspicuous cliff, intending to pick it up on their return; and thus lightened, they advanced more rapidly, keeping farther out on the floes, in hopes of falling in with walruses or seals.

I have found in midwinter, in this high latitude of 78° 50', the surface so nearly moist as to be friable to the touch; and upon the ice-floes, commencing with a surface-temperature of-30°, I found at two feet deep a temperature of-8°, at four feet + 2°, and at eight feet + 26°. ...