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CLEARNESS OF THE SEA AT THE NORTH CAPE. 



The following interesting description of the appearance of 

 the Northern Sea is given by Capell Brooke, in his Travels 

 to the North Cape. 



" Nothing can be more surprising and beautiful than the 

 singular clearness of the water of the northern seas. As we 

 passed slowly over the surface, the bottom, which was in 

 general a white sand, was clearly visible, with its minutest 

 objects, where the depth was from twenty to twenty-five fa- 

 thoms. During the whole course of the tour I made, nothing 

 appeared to me so extraordinary as the inmost recesses of 

 the deep thus unveiled to the eye. The surface of the ocean 

 was unruffled by the slightest breeze, and the gentle splashing 

 of the oars scarcely disturbed it. Hanging over the gunwale 

 of the boat with wonder and delight, I gazed on the slowly 

 moving scene below. Where the bottom was sandy, the 

 different kinds of Asterice and Echini, and even the smallest 

 shells, appeared at that great depth conspicuous to the eye ; 

 and the water seemed in some measure to have the effect of a 

 magnifier, by enlarging the objects like a telescope, and 

 bringing them nearer. Now creeping along, we saw, far 

 beneath, the rugged sides of a mountain rising towards 

 our boat, the base of which perhaps was hidden some 

 miles in the great depth below. Though moving on a level 

 surface, it seemed almost as if we were ascending the height 

 under us ; and when we passed over its summit, which rose 

 in appearance to within a few feet of our boat, and came 

 again to the descent, which on this side was suddenly per- 

 pendicular, and overlooking a watery gulf, as we pushed 

 gently over the last part of it, it seemed almost as if we had 

 thrown ourselves down this precipice ; the illusion, from the 

 crystal clearness of the deep, actually producing a sudden 

 start. Now we came again to a plain ; and passed slowly 

 over, the submarine forests and meadows which appeared in 

 the expanse below, inhabited, doubtless, by thousands of 

 animals unknown to man ; and I could sometimes observe 

 large fishes of a singular shape gliding softly through the 

 watery thickets, unconscious of what was moving above them. 

 As we proceeded the bottom became no longer visible : its 

 fairy scenes gradually faded to the view, and were lost in the 

 dark green depths of the ocean. " 



