THE ARCTIC SEAS. 129 



like greenish velvet; a vertical section of it, which 

 frequently occurs at the margin of floes, resembles, 

 while it remains compact, the most beautiful satin 

 spar; and asbestos, when falling to' pieces. At this 

 early part of the season, this kind of ice afforded 

 pretty firm footing ; but as the summer advanced 

 the needles became more loose and movable, ren- 

 dering it extremely fatiguing to walk over them, 

 besides cutting our boots and feet — on which ac- 

 count the men called them penknives."^ The Cap- 

 tain attributes this peculiar structure to the heavy 

 drops of rain piercing their way downwards through 

 the ice, and separating it into needles. 



There is no phenomenon that more forcibly brings 

 before the mind of a stranger the novelty of his 

 position, than the absence, on entering within the 

 Arctic Circle, of that constant alternation of day 

 and night, which we are accustomed to consider as 

 inseparable from the constitution of our world. We 

 have learned this fact in our elementary treatises on 

 Geography, but yet it is difficult to realise to the 

 mind a perpetual day, an unsetting sun. When 

 the sun's disk is obscured by a fog, it is no uncom- 

 mon thing for sailors to ask each other if it be night 

 or day : and Phipps, on his return voyage, thought 

 the sight of a star an occurrence of sufficient mo- 

 ment to be inserted in his journal. " August 24th. 

 — We saw Jupiter: the sight of a star was now 

 become almost as extraordinary a phenomenon as 

 the sun at midnight, when we first got within the 

 Arctic Circle." Our voyagers usually seek the 



* Narrative of an Attempt, &c, p. 61. 

 9 



