THE UNKNOWN. 



water seemed, in some measure, to have the effect 

 of a magnifier, by enlarging the objects like a 

 telescope, and bringing them seemingly nearer. 

 Now, creeping along, we saw, far beneath, the 

 rugged sides of a mountain rising towards our 

 boat, the base of which, perhaps, was hidden 

 some miles in the great deep below. Though 

 moving on a level surface, it seemed almost as if 

 we were ascending the height under us ; and when 

 we passed over its summit, which rose in appear- 

 ance to within a few feet of our boat, and came 

 again to the descent, which on this side was sud- 

 denly perpendicular, and overlooking a watery 

 gulf, as we pushed gently over the last point of 

 it, it seemed as if we had thrown ourselves down 

 this precipice; the illusion, from the crystal clear- 

 ness of the deep, actually producing a start. Now 

 we came again to a plain, and passed slowly over 

 the submarine forests and meadows, which ap- 

 peared in the expanse below ; inhabited, doubtless, 

 by thousands of animals, to which they afford 

 both food and shelter — animals unknown to man ; 

 and I could sometimes observe large fishes of 

 singular t-hape gliding softly through the watery 

 thickets, unconscious of what was moving above 

 them. As we proceeded, the bottom became no 

 longer visible ; its fairy scenes gradually faded to 

 the view, and were lost in the dark green depths 

 of the ocean."* 



* " Travels in Norway," p. 195. 



279 



