Owing to this there was some difficulty in identifying the vague outlines which stood out like floating vapour in the sky, disappearing and then reappearing between the breaks of the mist.
However, we all agreed to regard this land as from twenty-five to thirty fathoms in height, at least at its highest part.
No! we would not admit that we were the victims of a delusion, and yet our uneasy minds feared that it might so! Is it not natural, after all, for the heart to be assailed by a thousand apprehensions as we near the end of any enterprise?
At this thought my mind became confused and dreamy.

The _Halbrane_ seemed to be reduced to the dimensions of a small boat lost in this boundless space--the contrary of that limitless sea of which Edgar Poe speaks, where, like a living body, the ship grows larger.
When we have charts, or even sailing directions instruct us concerning the hydrography of the coasts, the nature of the landfalls, the bays and the creeks, we may sail along boldly.

In every other region, the master of a ship must not defer the order to cast anchor near the shore until the morrow.

But, where we were, what an amount of prudence was necessary! And yet, no manifest obstacle was before us.

Moreover, we had no cause to fear that the light would fail us during the sunny the night.