A MARVELLOUS SPECTACLE. 79 



parts of these lofty mountains, I could see it at 

 midnight above the horizon. This spectacle I 

 considered as not one of the least of nature's mira- 

 cles, for what inhabitant of other countries would 

 not wish to behold it ? Lord, how wonderful 

 are Thy works ! " 



Bayard Taylor has thus strikingly described 

 the same marvellous and beautiful spectacle : " We 

 were in the narrow strait between the Island of 

 Mageroe, the northern extremity of which forms 

 the North Cape and the mainland. Here, where 

 the scurvy carries off half the inhabitants where 

 pastors coming from Southern Norway die within 

 a year where no trees grow, no vegetables come 

 to maturity, and gales from every quarter of the 

 icy sea beat the last faint life out of nature, men 

 will still persist in living, in apparent defiance of 

 all natural laws. Yet they have at least an excuse 

 for it in the marvellous provision which Providence 

 has made for their food and fuel. The sea and 

 fjords are alive with fish, which are not only a 

 means of existence but of profit to them, while 

 the wonderful Gulf-stream, which crosses 5000 

 miles of the Atlantic to die upon this Ultima Thule 

 in a last struggle with the Polar Sea, casts up the 

 spoils of tropical forests to feed their fires. Think 

 of Arctic fishers burning upon their hearths the 

 palms of Hayti, the mahogany of Honduras, and 



