About
eleven o'clock
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 ?