1846.] Iceherga of the Ant-Arctic Sea. 21 



which they are impressed, all those mingling gradations of color, 

 from the faintest tinge of emerald green to that of the most in- 

 tense shades of blue; and when the sky is filled with clouds — 

 which is most generally the case — the scene, though equally 

 as picturesque, exhibits a much severer aspect; these clouds be- 

 ing all over torn into rough and irregular patches, by the power- 

 ful winds that here prevail; w^hile the sun, having but a moderate 

 altitude, and almost encircling the heavens but a few degrees 

 above the horizon, pierce with its rays the numerous openings 

 between, and light up both cloud and ice, into a most magnifi- 

 cent glow. These changing hues are again brought to the eye 

 of the spectator, in mild and beautiful reflections, so that, through- 

 out the hours of the long summer day, the entire scene presents 

 the ever-varying aspect of a most gorgeous sunset. 



But when seen amid the turbulence of cloud and storm, the 

 scene becomes sternly sublime. The dense masses of heavy va- 

 por that deadens the entire face of the heavens, and roll rapidly 

 along its surface, together with the dashing of the wnld waves 

 against the icebergs' slippery sides, sometimes sending the spray 

 far beyond their lottiesi tops, where, soon becoming dissipated in 

 clouds of silvery mist, it gradually descends and envelopes the 

 distant view as with a soft transparent veil of light. But it is 

 only when, under these circumstances, these masses of ice are 

 seen through the gloomy twilight of the midnight hours, that 

 they assume a strangely terrific aspect; their huge forms then 

 loom in the hazy atmosphere that surrounds them, and fall upon 

 the vision shadowy and indistinct, like fragmentary spectres of a 

 disruptured world. 



These icebergs at all times derive their origin from the land; 

 being merely detached fragments from the huge glaciers which 

 every where fill the numerous valleys, and cover the hills from the 

 water's edge upw^ard, until they attain their greatest eminence. 

 These glaciers are all formed from the accumulating snows of 

 ages, this being almost the only form that moisture ever assumes 

 in falling in these elevated regions; scarcely a day occurred while 

 we were in the vicinity of these southern lands — even though at 



