Here then our progress was stopped,
and we wore ship, and once more stood to the northward and eastward;
not for the straits of Magellan, but to make another attempt to double
the Cape, still farther to the eastward; for the captain was
determined to get round if perseverance could do it; and the third
time, he said, never failed.
With a fair wind we soon ran clear of the field-ice, and by noon had
only the stray islands floating far and near upon the ocean. The sun
was out bright, the sea of a deep blue, fringed with the white foam of
the waves which ran high before a strong southwester; our solitary
ship tore on through the water, as though glad to be out of her
confinement; and the ice islands lay scattered upon the ocean here and
there, of various sizes and shapes, reflecting the bright rays of
the sun, and drifting slowly northward before the gale. It was a
contrast to much that we had lately seen, and a spectacle not only
of beauty, but of life; for it required but little fancy to imagine
these islands to be animate masses which had broken loose from the
"thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice," and were working their way,
by wind and current, some alone, and some in fleets, to milder climes.
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