52 VOYAGE TO SPITZBEUGEN. 



did not freeze. All around the ship, ice was form- 

 ed on the surface of the water ; I observed the spi- 

 culae darting with considerable velocity, and in an 

 immense variety of forms. This ice, when newly 

 formed, is of a bay colour, and when it has attain- 

 ed the thickness of window glass is called by the 

 sailors, hay ice. It is rough on the surface, and 

 opaque ; if the frost be not interrupted by a swell 

 of the sea, or storm, the salt-water ice often extends 

 to an immense distance. It is by the Greenland 

 sailors termed afield, when of such extent that the 

 eye cannot reach its bounds. The smaller frag- 

 ments of salt-water ice are called seal mea- 

 dows, and on them these animals often sport by 

 hundreds. 



In storms large masses of ice are frequently pil- 

 ed on each other, to a considerable height ; these 

 are called packs, and often assume a very fantastic 

 appearance. The grinding noise occasioned by the 

 collision of those huge masses of ice against each 

 other, and against the ship, not only fills the mind 

 of the auditor with a degree of horror, but, for 

 a considerable time, deprives him of the sense of 

 hearing. 



Storms in those seas are so extremely danger- 

 ous, that the most powerful pens could convey but 

 a faint representation of their horrific sublimity. — 



