244 ADVENTURES IN THE NORTHERN SEAS. 



Many of these mountains have a singularly 

 striking resemblance, on an enormously exagger- 

 ated scale, to the pyramids of Egypt. Some of 

 them have four well-proportioned sides, and slope 

 at a very regular angle of about 45° from top to 

 bottom ; and the lines of stratification being very 

 horizontally disposed and broken short off at the 

 ends, give them exactly the appearance of being 

 composed of gigantic courses of masonry, each 

 smaller than the one below it, until the mountain 

 terminates in an absolute point. Others, again, 

 have the uppermost strata slightly overhanging, or 

 projecting over those immediately below. 



The 1st of September was a fine calm day, with 

 only occasional gusts of wind from the valleys on 

 the coast. 



We saw two huge Mysticeti, or "right whales," 

 lazily rolling on the surface and blowing sonorous- 

 ly, at one or two miles' distance. They remained 

 so long above water after each dive that it looked 

 as if there would be no great difficulty in harpoon- 

 ing them, and only our want of proper tackle com- 

 pelled us reluctantly to abstain from making the 

 experiment. 



The sea here swarms with incredible numbers of 

 minute Medusa?, on which these whales were prob- 

 ably feeding when we saw them. These animalculae 

 also seem to be affording an inexhaustible banquet 

 to gulls and guillemots by the thousand. The lat- 

 ter are the only things we ever take the lives of 



