of the Water of the Rhine. 441 



water : nothing can equal the brilliancy and accuracy of the 

 reflections of the scenery from its surface. J. R. says, co- 

 loured ice, when in minute fragments, is " simply white." 

 The sky is of a deep blue, approaching to black, in great 

 heights, yet a thin stratum of air is nearly white. The colour 

 is, therefore, dependent on the quantity of the matter which 

 absorbs or reflects. There is, says Mrs. Somerville, " no 

 substance which is either perfectly opaque or perfectly trans- 

 parent : the clearest crystal, the purest air or water, stop or 

 absorb the rays of light when transmitted, and gradually ex- 

 tinguish them as they penetrate to greater depths." (p. 173.) 

 I cannot quote all that Mr. Scoresby has said upon this sub- 

 ject; but he has fully detailed the facts, as observed by him in 

 the polar seas, and has come to the same conclusion as Mrs. 

 Somerville. The real colour, he says, of the sea, " may be 

 recognised in storm or calm, in fine weather or foul, clear or 

 cloudy, fair or showery, being always nearly the same " {Arctic 

 Regions, i. 175.); which agrees with what J. R. says of the 

 Rhine. Mr. Scoresby says, also, the sea in the arctic regions is 

 generally blue, but occasionally diversified ; since "in 1817, 

 he fell in with such narrow stripes of various-coloured water^ 

 that he passed streams of pale green, olive green, and trans- 

 parent blue, in the course often minutes' sailing" (p. 176.); 

 " and that the different qualities of water were kept distinct 

 from each other." He states that blue is the natural colour 

 of the sea; and that the green water alluded to was coloured 

 by myriads of medusae, &c., or the food of the whale. [See 

 in this Magazine, VII. 222. note *.] " The water of 

 the main ocean is well known to be as transparent and as 

 colourless as that of the most pure springs ; and it is only 

 when seen in very deep seas that any certain and unchange- 

 able colour appears. This colour is commonly ultramarine 

 blue, diifering but a shade from the colour of the atmosphere, 

 when free from the obscurity of cloud or haze. Where this 

 ultramarine blue occurs, the rays of light seem to be absorbed 

 in the water, without being reflected from the bottom ; the 

 blue rays being only intercepted. But where the depth is 

 not considerable, the colour of the water is affected by the 

 quality of the bottom." (p. 173.) Wood, in 1676, sounded, 

 off" Nova Zembla, in 80 fathoms ; in blue water, which was 

 so transparent, that " even the shells on the ground were 

 clearly visible." (p. 181.) Hudson says, in 1607, the sea 

 was blue where ice was, and green where it was open. (p. 175.)* 



* " And now there came both mist and snow, 

 And it grew wondrous cold ; 

 And ice, mast high, came floating by, 

 Green as an emerald." 



Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient il/ffnWr, part i. 



