O ICELAND. 



that it is time for another alarm. The regular rhythm 

 of the waves is very remarkable. For hours I could tell 

 within a second or two in what direction the ship would 

 next pitch, and how the approaching wave would strike 

 her. 



At last, on the afternoon of the fifth day, the sailors 

 discovered land in what seemed to us landsmen a thick 

 itorm cloud. 



A high bank of darkness to the north blended sea and 

 sky, but gradually out of this blackness indistinct forms 

 of rocks became perceptible. At first they appeared no 

 more than denser portions of the darkness, but at last, 

 from the shroud-like covering, tremendous precipices, 

 rising at a bound from the foaming breakers beneath, 

 could be clearly made out, their summits crowned by 

 snow and their high valleys filled with glancing ice- 

 streams. As the flying clouds were borne rapidly across 

 their precipitous faces, and the ocean swell broke hoarsely 

 on their base, a more inhospitable or dangerous looking 

 coast could not well be imagined. 



We sailed between the Westmann Islands and the 

 southern coast of Iceland. The islands referred to are 

 volcanic masses thrown out into the sea, and linked 

 together by low reefs over which the foaming breakers 

 were driving madly. 



Here we first encountered the whale, which is so 

 common an inhabitant of these seas. On our way home 

 thirty of them were at one time visible from the deck. 

 In mist and rain, with a strong southerly breeze and 



