142 THE OCEAN. 



the night, the rigging of the ship was most splen- 

 didly decorated with a' fringe of delicate crystals. 

 The general form of these was that of a feather 

 having half of the vane removed. Near the surface 

 of the ropes was first a small direct line of very 

 white particles, constituting the stem or shaft of the 

 feather ; and from each of these fibres, in another 

 plane, proceeded a short delicate range of spicules or 

 rays, discoverable only by the help of a microscope, 

 with which the elegant texture and systematic con- 

 struction of the feather were completed. Many of 

 these crystals, possessing a perfect arrangement of 

 the different parts corresponding with the shaft, 

 vane, and rachis of a feather, were upwards of an 

 inch in length, and three-fourths of an inch in 

 breadth. Some consisted of a single flake or feather ; 

 but many of them gave rise to other feathers, which 

 sprang from the surface of the vane at the usual 

 anode. There seemed to be no limit to the magni- 

 tude of these feathers, so long as the producing 

 cause continued to operate, until their weight be- 

 came so great, or the action of the wind so forcible, 

 that they were broken off, and fell in flakes to the 

 deck of the ship."* 



In our own winters we are familiar enough with 

 snow ; but, probably, few are aware of the exceeding 

 beauty, regularity, and delicacy which mark each in- 

 dividual crystal of this production. In our climate, 

 indeed, the temperature during a fall of snow is 

 rarely low enough for the form of the crystals to be 

 perceived ; as they become slightly melted in passing 



* Arct. Reg. i. 437. 



