EFFECT OF SUNSHINE. 53 



glow that overhung the hills and placid surface 

 of Magdalena Bay. 



Although surrounded by beds of snow and 

 glaciers, with the thermometer scarcely above 

 the freezing point, there was no sensation of 

 cold. The various amphibious animals, and my- 

 riads of birds which had resorted to the place, 

 seemed to enjoy, in the highest degree, the 

 transition thus occasioned by a few bright hours 

 of sunshine. From an early hour in the morn- 

 ing until the period of rest returned, the shores 

 around us reverberated with the merry cry of 

 the little auk, willocks, divers, cormorants, gulls, 

 and other aquatic birds ; and wherever we went 

 groups of walruses basking in the sun mingled 

 their playful roar with the husky bark of the seal. 



There was certainly no harmony in this 

 strange din; but it was, at the least, gratifying 

 to know that it arose from a demonstration 

 of happy feelings. It was a pleasure of the 

 same character as that which must have been 

 experienced by every traveller who, on some 

 line bright evening in a tropical climate, has 

 listened to the merry buz of thousands of 

 winged insects which immediately succeeds the 

 setting of the sun. And here we cannot fail 

 to notice the manner in which the great Author 

 of Nature has varied His dispensations. In 



