130 THE OCEAN. 



and form the irregular aggregations called jlakes of 

 snow. The ordinary form is that of a six-rayed star; 

 but the rays are often furnished with minute side 

 rays, lil^;e the beards of a feather, or are varied in 

 almost infinite diversity. The angle, however, which 

 is formed in crystallization, is invariably the same, 

 namely, one of 60°; and hence arises their symmetry. 

 Frost is a powerful antiseptic : as fermentation 

 will not take place in a low temperature, animal 

 substances may be kept without decay for an in- 

 definite period. It is customary for the whalers to 

 take out their meat unsalted, trusting to this well- 

 known quality of cold. Captain Parry's crew, fast 

 locked up in the ice of Melville Island, enjoyed a 

 Christmas dinner of roast beef, perfectly sweet, 

 which had been put on board nine months before. 

 The Mammoth which was dislodged by the falling 

 of a cliff at the mouth of the river Lena, had been 

 preserved from putrefaction for uncounted ages. 

 And more affecting instances of this quality have 

 been witnessed in the bodies of men, who, having 

 died in these icy regions, had lain for years unburied 

 without decay. In 177-i, the uncouth form of an 

 apparently-deserted ship was met with, strangely 

 encumbered with ice and snow ; on boarding her, a 

 solitary man was found in her cabin, his fingers 

 holding the pen, while before him lay the record 

 which that pen had traced, bearing date twelve years 

 before. No appearance of decay was manifest, save 

 that a little Qieenish mould had accumulated on his 

 forehead. A strange awe crept over the minds of 

 those who thus first broke in upon his loneliness : 



