I am aware that ships have often passed over the indicated bearings of land.

This, however, was not admissible in the case of Tsalal.

If the _Jane_ had been able to reach the islands, it was because that portion of the Antarctic sea was free, and in so "early" a year, we need not fear any obstacle in that direction.
At last, on the 19th, between two and three o'clock in the afternoon, a shout from the crow's-nest was heard.
"What is it ?" roared West.
"The iceberg wall is split on the south-east." "What is beyond ?" "Nothing in sight." It took West very little time to reach the point of observation, and we all waited below, how impatiently may be imagined.

What if the look-out were mistaken, if some optical delusion ?--But West, at all events, would make no mistake.
After ten interminable minutes his clear voice reached us on the deck.
"Open sea!" he cried.
Unanimous cheers made answer.
The schooner's head was put to the south-east, hugging the wind as much as possible.
Two hours later we had doubled the extremity of the ice-barrier, and there lay before our eyes a sparkling sea, entirely open.
(1) The French word is _banquise_, which means the vast stretch of icebergs farther south than the barriere or ice wall..