148 SEA AND LAND 



a volcano in energetic eruption, are more startling; but it is 

 doubtful if any of the aspects of nature, save the ever-familiar 

 depths of the heavens, is so awe-inspiring as that exhibited by 

 a great fleet of bergs as they come forth from the icy moun- 

 tains of Greenland for their long southern voyage. 



One of the most notable of the manifold modern develop- 

 ments of interest in the external world is that which leads 

 people to make long journeys to behold the more inspiring 

 scenes of nature. It seems likely that in a few decades this 

 relish for the flavor of scenery will, among cultivated people, 

 become as well developed as that of the Romans of the second 

 century for the luxuries of the tal)le. When this stage of our 

 social development is attained, we may expect that the fields 

 of the icebergs will be as much visited by the seekers after the 

 nobler aspects of nature as are the ice-streams of the Alps ; 

 certainly this world has no more impressive spectacles than 

 those afforded by the high northern seas -when their vast 

 annual fleet of bergs set forth on their journey into the broad 

 Atlantic. 



Ao-ainst the crood which is oriven us in the grandeur and 

 beauty of the icebergs, we must set the grave and inevitable 

 danger which they bring to the seafarer who has to traverse 

 the waters where they abound. These dangers have always 

 been great, but are more serious in this age of swift steam- 

 ships than of old. Against the common perils of the sea the 

 skill of shipmaker and shipmaster, when at their best, can 

 effectively guard. The ocean is so well charted that there is 

 no island in the usual paths of commerce, hardly indeed a 

 rock which need be approached, the position of which is not 

 well known. The art and science of navigation is so well 

 explored and taught, that with the aid of his chronometers 



