chap, ii THE ARCTIC CIRCLE 27 



" Blue ran the flash across " the hills. Over the ship's side 

 were crystal waters through whose shallower places the eye 

 could search the floor of purple rocks and white sand. 



The mountains grew bolder, the scenery nobler further 

 north. The Seven White Sisters, first faintly seen ahead, 

 waxed in majesty as they approached. From hour to hour 

 more snow was in sight. Yet the view was never in the least 

 like a view in the Alps, even allowing for the presence of 

 the sea. Of characteristic grace are the domed islands, like 

 pierced Torghatten, which rise from the water in gentlest 

 sloping lines, then swiftly lift themselves aloft with ever 

 steepening curve to a broad summit. Some mighty masses, 

 like the Lion Island, front the sea with imposing precipices. 

 Distances became deceptive in the increasing clearness. We 

 mistook a gully filled with a lofty waterfall for a snow 

 couloir. The angular velocity of the falling water was so 

 small that the eye overlooked the motion. Thus we had 

 visible proof of the fact that the charm and strong impression 

 which cascades produce upon the mind is due, not to the 

 form (save in exceptional cases, like Tosa Falls or the Seven 

 Sisters in the Geiranger Fjord), but to the motion and per- 

 ceived weight and volume of the falling water. 



In the evening all came on deck to "dilate with the 

 right emotion " while crossing the Arctic Circle. Nature 

 has marked the position of this mystic line by an island 

 of notable form, named Hestmand, which rises boldly 

 from the sea and culminates in a jutting finger of rock. 

 On all hands the scenery was divine in the pellucid air. 

 Thirty miles away to the west, far out in the ocean, the 

 storm-rent Traenen Islands lay like a cluster of opals. The 

 mountains everywhere took bolder forms, with weathered 

 precipices, snow outlined ledges, and toothed aretes. Danc- 

 ing light made patterns in the water, leaving polished high- 

 ways and spaces patched about. The ship swung through 



