IX THE SEA 369 



Mount Lubbock an island suddenly appeared, 

 which he was quite sure was not to be seen 

 two or three hours previously. He was much 

 astonished, but it eventually turned out to be 

 a large iceberg, which had turned over, and so 

 exposed a new surface covered with earth and 

 stones." 



The condition of the Arctic regions is quite 

 different. There is much more land, and no 

 such enormous solid cap of ice. Spitzbergen, 

 the land of " pointed mountains," is said to be 

 very beautiful. Lord Dufferin describes his 

 first view of it as " a forest of thin lilac peaks, 

 so faint, so pale, that had it not been for 

 the gem-like distinctness of their outline one 

 could have deemed them as unsubstantial as 

 the spires of Fairy-land." 



It is, however, very desolate ; scarcely any 

 vegetation excepting a dark moss, and even 

 this goes but a little way up the mountain 

 side. Scoresby ascended one of the hills near 

 Horn Sound, and describes the view as " most 

 extensive and grand. A fine sheltered bay 

 was seen to the east of us, an arm of the same 

 on the north-east, and the sea, whose glassy 

 2b 



