THE COAST. 185 







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thousands, and float south to be dissolved in the warm 

 waters of the Atlantic, becoming the dread of the navi- 

 gator of the Newfoundland banks. 



The reader may try to conceive the difficulties and 

 dangers which beset vessels navigating the northern seas, 

 and picture the imminence of the peril should they 

 encounter a heavy gale. The air thick with fog and 

 Bnow-flakes, the ropes stiff with frozen spray, the bitter 

 temperature benumbing the hands and feet, the ship 

 surrounded by huge mountains of ice, roaring and crash- 

 ing, heaving and rearing, one against the other, and 

 against the poor ship ; now she is tossed against the ice, 

 now the ice-blocks beat and bump against her side, 

 masts and yards crack, bells ring, men shout, the storm 

 howls, every minute seems to be the last 



" And the boldest hold their breath for a time.'* 



As we approached the Spitzbergen ice-stream, wa 

 found the sea strewed with detached pieces of ice, with 

 occasional small packs some four or five miles in extent, 

 their colour varying from the purest white to a deep blue, 

 according to the shape and the reflected light. The 

 waves surging against the masses sounded like the dash- 

 ing of the sea against a rocky coast. The wind falling 

 calm, we were enveloped in fog, and had to get up steam 

 to urge our way through this frozen barrier, which often 

 fouled the ship, and caused her to shake from stem to 

 stern, and at times altogether arrested her progress. 



The most fantastic shapes were at times assumed by 



