“Now look here,” said he, addressing me; “that island to the south’ard is laid down in the chart as a mere rock, and only indicated by a big dot and the words ‘rocks of some extent.’ Now, by my glass, it looks a tidy big island, at least six or eight miles from east to west, and goodness knows how long from north to south. I can see parts of it which must rise to a height of several hundred feet, and probably the whole island would take some three or four days to travel round on the rough ice. Now what do you say to take two or three hands and go and explore it?” “What do I say?--why jump at it with pleasure, of course; but give me a couple of days to get ready, and allow me to pick my crew.” This was assented to, and in the three days allotted I rigged up one of the small boats on runners, loaded it with felt sleeping-bags, a tent, small stove, guns, provisions, a lamp, and many other things that might be required. On the third day I started off with four men, who were as eager for the expedition as myself, being only too glad to undertake anything for a change from the monotonous hut life. We were granted six days to be away; if we had not returned by the end of that time a search party would be sent out to seek us. We were instructed to plant a rod with a piece of red bunting at our various halting-places, so that if necessary our steps might easily be followed. As we started off the whole ship’s company came out to bid us farewell, and it made our hearts bound with joy and pride, when we heard their voices, with loud “hurrahs,” make the surrounding icy peaks of these Arctic solitudes echo again. We had ten miles to scramble over the excessively rough ice which lay between our winter quarters and the island. Six or eight of our mates came half-way with us, to give us a hand in dragging our sledge-boat. It was terrible hard work, and the first five miles took us six hours to accomplish, as the ice was in some places piled in hummocks twenty and even thirty feet high; round these we had to make a _détour_, so that our course was very meandering and uncertain. We made a halt and refreshed, each of us having a cup of hot coffee to drink with the meal we had brought with us. We could see the “Swan’s Nest” built on the side of a hill facing south-west, and, not a couple of hundred yards away, was our vessel, the _White Swan_, frozen solidly into the ice. Her topmasts and heavy gear had been sent down and stowed on deck, which from stem to stern was covered in with a span roof of timber; so that she looked something like a long black shed, with three tall chimneys thrust through the roof. After half-an-hour’s halt our comrades left us and returned to the “Swan’s Nest,” hoping to see us again in six days at furthest.