552 A MARVELLOUS PICTURE. 



most singular and weird beauty, and probably the time may come 

 when the artist will gain that inspiration from their sublime or 

 graceful shapes which he now seeks in the forest, on the sea-shore, or 

 in the pine-clad mountain-glen. 



Masses of ice rise every year from the bosom, so to speak, of the 

 Polar Sea, and accumulating together, and with the ruins of half- 

 dissolved icebergs, gradually develop into immense ice-fields, which 

 have often an area of several thousand square yards. Their thick- 

 ness varies, but is always considerably inferior to that of the icebergs. 

 It is not uncommon, however, for them to attain an elevation of 

 300 feet, and you can form an idea of their gigantic dimensions by 

 recollecting that the submerged portion will be from four to eight 

 times the height of that which rises above the waves. During the 

 winter, mountains and fields of ice congeal together in such wise as 

 to spread over the ocean a compact and impenetrable crust, an 

 immense desert of snow, broken up by walls and columns I should 

 rather say, by monuments of fantastic design, whose radiant glittering 

 surfaces reflect in changing lights of amethyst, azure, vermilion, gold, 

 and emerald, the wondrous fires of the northern auroras. When, 

 after a long absence, the sun returns to dart obliquely his rays upon 

 the Pole, all this crust splits up and becomes dislocated ; the confu- 

 sion spreads ; the ocean-currents carry off to sea the blocks and floes 

 of ice which roll, and glide, and chase, and cross each other, hurtling 

 together in an indescribable mel^e, and with a fearful tempest of 

 sounds ! 



This is not the place to speak of the dangers which beset the 

 seaman who dares to penetrate into the silent recesses of the Polar 

 Seas. And, indeed, a tale so often told would have little interest for 

 the English reader, who cannot fail to be familiar with the adven- 

 tures of the Arctic explorers, from Hudson to M'Clure, through the 

 long list of honoured and immortal names Parry, Ross, Franklin, 

 Scoresby, Davis, M'Clintock, and Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Too many, 

 alas ! have fallen victims to their heroic courage, and the most fortu- 

 nate have not returned in safety without accomplishing prodigies of 



