152 Bibliography. 
especially the largest, were covered with about eighteen inches of snow. 
The whole at a distance appeared like a vast level field, composed of 
shapeless, angular masses of every possible figure, ie here and 
there a table-topped iceberg. 
The Vincennes was making rapid headway with a pheary, sea, sent 
in an instant all was perfectly still and quiet. The sleepers were 
awakened by the sudden transition, and all rushed on deck, for it was 
quite evident that they were embayed within a line or barrier of ice, 
and as they were proceeding rapidly in an impenetrable fog, it was 
realized that they might be running to destruction, for the ice was 
soon made on either tack, and the rustling sound occasioned by its 
movement was distinctly heard. It cost the Vincennes several hours 
of maneuvering to extricate herself from this perilous situation. 
On the 19th of January the sun and moon both appeared above the 
horizon at the same time, and each throwing its light abroad. The 
moon was nearly full. ‘The sun with his deep golden rays illuminated 
the icebergs and distant continent, while the moon in the opposite hori- 
zon tinged the vicinal clouds with its silvery light.* 
They now encountered icebergs of magnificent dimensions, one-third 
of a mile long, and one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet high, with 
perfectly smooth sides ; some were arched and cavernous, the sea thun- 
dering into these deep recesses, and the birds flying in and out as in 
ruined castles, and abbeys, and natural caverns, ‘‘ while here and there 
a bold projecting bluff crowned with pinnacles and turrets, resembled 
some Gothic keep. Every noise on board, even our own voices, was 
reverberated from the pure white walls, whose tabular masses resem- 
bled the most beautiful alabaster.” ‘‘Ifan immense city of ruined 
alabaster palaces can be imagined, of every variety of shape and tint, 
and composed of huge piles of buildings grouped together, with long 
lanes or streets winding irregularly through them, some faint idea may 
be formed of the grandeur and beauty of the spectacle. The time 
and circumstances under which we were threading our way through 
them, we knew not to what end, left an impression of these icy and des- 
olate regions that can never be forgotten.” 
Jan. 22. “It was now during fine weather one continued day,” 
obscured occasionally by snow squalls. ‘The bergs were so vast and 
inaccessible that there was no possibility of landing upon them.” The 
observations of the Peacock were particularly interesting, especially as 
* In asmooth sea they witnessed (Jan. 20) a fine combat between a large whale 
and a ferocious fish called a killer, which had seized the whale by the lower jaw, 
and despite of the desperate efforts of the powerful animal, filled the sea with foam 
and blood, and when the whale leaped twenty feet out of the water, with open mouth, 
the killer still kept hold and probably prevailed. ‘The whales appear to be attract- 
ed to these seas by the squids and shrimps. 
