DEPTH OF SNOW. 217 



the skies. The play of this many-colored light upon 

 the surrounding objects was truly wonderful. The 

 weird forms of countless icebergs, singly and in clus- 

 ters, loomed above the sea, and around their summits 

 the strange gleam shone as the fires of Vesuvius over 

 the doomed temples of Campania. Upon the moun- 

 tain tops, along the white surface of the frozen waters, 

 upon the lofty cliffs, the light glowed and grew dim 

 and glowed again, as if the air was filled with charnel 

 meteors, pulsating with wild inconstancy over some 

 vast illimitable city of the dead. The scene was 

 noiseless, yet the senses were deceived, for unearthly 

 sounds seemed to follow the rapid flashes, and to fall 

 upon the ear like 



" the tread 



Of phantoms dread, 

 With banner, and spear, and flame." 



January 13th. 



The month of January runs on through stormy 

 skies. The wind continues to blow as before, and the 

 wild rush of gales fills the night with sounds of terror. 



The air has been, however, for the most part, quite 

 clear. But little snow has fallen since November. 

 The total depth now mounts up to 53^ inches. I am 

 more and more struck with the difference in the at- 

 mospheric conditions of this place and Van Rensselaer 

 Harbor. There we had rarely moisture, and gales 

 were scarcely known. The temperatures w r ere very 

 low, and the winter was marked by a general calm. 

 Here the temperatures are more mild than Parry's at 

 Melville Island, the atmospheric disturbances have 

 been very great, and the amount of snow has been 

 truly surprising. There is one comfort at least in the 

 vvinds. They either carry off the snow or pack it 



