A RARE DAY. 427 



North Water, through one of the most charming days 

 that I have spent under the Arctic skies. There was 

 but the feeblest " cat's-paw " to ruffle the sea, and we 

 gUded on our way over the still waters through a 

 bright sunshine. The sea was studded all over with 

 glittering icebergs and bits of old floes, and here and 

 there a small streak of ice which had become de- 

 tached from the pack. The beasts of the sea and the 

 fowls of the air gathered around us, and the motion- 

 less water and the quiet atmosphere were alive. The 

 walrus came snorting and bellowing through the sea 

 as if to have a look at us ; the seals in great num- 

 bers were continually putting up their cunning heads 

 all around the vessel; the narwhal in large schools, 

 " blowing " lazily, thrust their horns out of the sea, 

 and their dappled bodies followed after with a grace- 

 ful curve, as if they enjoyed the sunshine and were 

 loathe to quit it ; great numbers of white whale 

 darted past us ; the air and the icebergs swarmed 

 with gulls ; and flocks of ducks and auks were flying 

 over us all the time. I sat upon the deck much of 

 the day, trying, with indifierent success, to convey to 

 my portfoUo the exquisite green tints of the ice which 

 drifted past us, and watching a most singular phenom- 

 enon in the heavens. These Arctic skies do some- 

 times play fantastic tricks, and on no occasion have I 

 witnessed the exhibition to such perfection. The at- 

 mosphere had a rare softness, and throughout almost 

 the entire day there was visible a most remarkable 

 mirage or refraction, — an event of very frequent oc- 

 currence during the calm days of the Arctic summer. 

 The entire horizon was lifting and doubling itself con- 

 tinually, and objects at a great distance beyond it 

 rose as if by strange enchantment and stood suspended 



