OLD WHALING DAYS. 75 



coast line of ice over two miles long, almost burying its face 

 in the sea, and carrying the eye along a broad and winding 

 valley, up steps of ice in giant height, until at length the 

 slope loses itself in the unknown ice desert beyond. But 

 grandest of all is the magnificent Humboldt Glacier, which 

 forms a solid glassy wall 300 feet above the water level, with 

 an unknown depth below it, while its curved face extends fully 

 sixty miles in length. In the temperate zone it would be 

 one of the mightiest rivers of the earth ; here in the frozen 

 solitudes of the north it slowly drops its vast fragments into 

 the waters, making the solitudes around re-echo with their fall. 



The wonderful beauty of these crystal cliffs never appears 

 to greater advantage than when clothed by the midnight sun 

 with all the splendid colours of twilight glittering in the 

 blaze of the brilliant heavens, seeming in the distance like 

 masses of burnished metal or solid flame. 



In the shadow of the bergs the water is of a rich green, 

 and a deep cavern near exhibits the rich colour of 

 malachite mingled with the transparency of the emerald, 

 sometimes a broad streak of cobalt blue runs diagonally 

 through them. 



In the night the icebergs are readily distinguished even 

 at a distance by their natural effulgence, and in foggy 

 weather by a peculiar blackness in the atmosphere. 



We shot several bears, and brought two on board alive. 

 One of them was not quite half grown. After securing it to 

 a ring bolt in the deck, and in the act of taking the other 

 on board, a man accidentally let go the rope which held the 

 former, and the deck was cleared in a very short time. 

 Some of the sailors took refuge in the rigging, others below, 

 and it was really laughable to see how quickly Bruin had 

 the deck to itself. Though only a small animal, no one 

 cared for a bite. It was immediately lassoed and secured 

 in a cask for transportation home. A fine bear would fetch 

 about ^35 for a zoological garden. 



