With my bear-meat and Bent's crackers for food, and my bearskin for a blanket, I might now be considered for the present as above the reach of absolute want; and still it is not to be supposed that I was in a very contented and happy frame of mind. I was very thankful for all the mercies that I had received; and, when I looked back upon all the wonderful deliverances that I had experienced, I could not help feeling confident that all would go well with me hereafter.[1] But the great want that I felt was _a home_, or at least something,--some hut or hovel, or hole in the ground,--to which I might retire when my labor was over, where I could eat my frugal meals, and lie down to slumber at night. I longed for a place in which I could feel that I was _localized_, around which domestic associations might gradually entwine themselves, and where I might sing in the twilight the songs of my childhood.[2] The fifth day of my sojourn on the iceberg was the great day of discovery. I determined, that morning, that I would now make a thorough survey of the whole island. I knew that it would be rough work, and somewhat dangerous; for, in some places, there were cavities fifty feet deep, and I should have to climb over some very steep ice, where it was as smooth as glass. Before starting, I pulled several nails out of the hoops that lay around, and drove them into the soles of my boots; and I was fortunate enough to find a good stout stick, into the end of which I also fastened one of the nails. Filling my pockets with crackers, and slinging a slice of cooked bear's meat over my shoulder, I started off, having been careful first to pile up several loose blocks of ice in the form of a pillar, so that I might be able to find the place again. I then struck--as it afterwards turned out most fortunately--for that side of the berg where the surface shelved off gradually to the water. About eleven o'clock, I found myself standing on quite a lofty peak of ice; and, looking down, my eyes fell upon a sight that almost took away my breath. Spread out before me on a level plain, there lay a large black patch, which looked as though it must be earth; and on the farther side, just where the berg began to slope towards the sea, I thought that I saw something that looked like a building! Could it be that the island was inhabited? Running, sliding, slipping down, as fast as I could go, in a short time I found that I was not mistaken in supposing that it was earth: for there lay, stretched out before me, an acre or so of ground, almost as smooth and level as a garden; and, at the farther end of the plot, there stood,--not an ordinary house, not a barn, not an Esquimaux hut, not a country store, not a railroad depot, not a meeting-house,--but, what do you imagine? I will tell you as soon as I get there. Rushing like mad across the ground,--oh, how pleasant it was to feel the soft soil under my cold feet!--I came to what looked like a