Крижаний сфінкс
Chapter V. Edgar Poe’s Romance
Onthe12thofNovember,theschoonerlefttheKerguelens,andafterabriefstayatTristand’AcunhashesailedtoreconnoitretheAurorasin35°15’ofsouthlatitude,and37°38’ofwestlongitude.Buttheseislandswerenottobefound,andshedidnotfindthem.
Onthe12thofDecembertheJaneheadedtowardstheAntarcticpole.Onthe26th,thefirsticebergscameinsightbeyondtheseventy-thirddegree.
Fromthe1sttothe14thofJanuary,1828,themovementsweredifficult,thepolarcirclewaspassedinthemidstofice-floes,theicebergs’pointwasdoubledandtheshipsailedonthesurfaceofanopensea—thefamousopenseawherethetemperatureis47°Fahrenheit,andthewateris34°.
EdgarPoe,everyonewillallow,givesfreereintohisfancyatthispoint.Nonavigatorhadeverreachedlatitudessohigh—notevenJamesWeddelloftheBritishNavy,whodidnotgetbeyondtheseventy-fourthparallelin1822.ButtheachievementoftheJane,althoughdifficultofbelief,istriflingincomparisonwiththesucceedingincidentswhichArthurPym,orratherEdgarPoe,relateswithsimpleearnestness.Infactheentertainednodoubtofreachingthepoleitself.
Inthefirstplace,notasingleicebergistobeseenonthisfantasticsea.Innumerableflocksofbirdsskimitssurface,amongthemisapelicanwhichisshot.OnafloatingpieceoficeisabearoftheArcticspeciesandofgiganticsize.Atlastlandissignalled.
