ATMOSPHEROLOgV. — KEFRACTION. 387 



the 14th of Jvme 1816. The weather was clear 

 and mild, the barometer low, the wmd easterly. The 

 lower jiart of the coast in sight, lying in the 80th 

 degree of latitude, had its usual appearance ; but 

 the upper part of the hills, over which was spread 

 in some parts, a thin stratum of visible fog, was cu- 

 riously distorted. The general appearance was that 

 of variegated basaltic columns ; but the tops of some 

 mountains were extended into the air, in the form 

 of monumental towers. An iceberg in one place, was 

 elevated in an extraordinary degree, and assumed 

 the character of a prodigious cliff of alabaster pil- 

 lars. 



Other peculiar effects of refraction I have observ- 

 ed, of which some instances shall be noticed. At 6 

 P. M. of the 13th of May 1814*, when the ship I 

 commanded lay beset in the ice, the wind, which 

 for some days had blown fresh from the N. W. veer- 

 ed to the S. E. and subsided. A dense appearance 

 in the atmosphere, arose to the southward of us, and 

 advanced with the wind towards the N. W. When 

 it came to the S. W. of us, I first noticed that the 

 horizon, under this apparent density, was consi- 

 derably elevated ; and that a separation of seven 



* Latitude 78' 6', longitude 4° 10' E. Barometer 30.10. Ther- 

 mometer at noon 14°, at 6 P. M. 10°, at midnight 7°, and two 

 hovirs afterwai'ds, 18°. 



R b 2 



