TUB AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 61 



any but little children ever dreamed of. She sits quite still 

 with her chin upon her hand, looking down into the sea 

 with two great, grand blue eyes, as blue as the sea itself. 

 Her hair is as white as the snow, for she is very, very old — 

 in fact, as old as any thing which you are likely to come 

 across, except the difference between right and wrong. 



" Such is the sea beyond the ice-barrier, as our fathers 

 believed it to exist, even after Columbus taught the world 

 how to make an egg stand on its end. 



"To come back to my story, however," Hniton continued: 

 "As we stood by the ice-wall, the weather thickened, and a 

 heavy snow shut out the ice. We were standing along un- 

 der close-reefed maintop -sail, reefed courses, and try-sail. 

 The spray of the sea went right to ice as it touched the 

 deck and rigging. We were heading aslant the wall; it 

 was still light enough to see that we wei-e among floating 

 ice, and we could catch glimpses of the cloud-like outlines 

 of great bergs, which it would be destruction to touch. 

 The captain stood under the lee of the mainmast, his clothes 

 covered with ice, giving orders to the men at the wheel. 

 The wheel was double manned, and the mate stood by to 

 see that the helm was well served. The wind was piping 

 its strongest, and the combing seas were such as are only 

 to be seen off Cape Horn. The drift and ice islands came 

 on us thicker and faster. Once we passed to the windward 

 of a great iceberg, higher than the mast-heads, and we held 

 our breath as we listened to the thunder of the great waves, 

 which one moment tossed our little craft, and the next burst 

 with awful force against the ice under our lee. 



" We suffered very much from the cold ; our clothes were 

 stiff with ice. We were dashing blindly on, but with good 

 steerage-way, and the ship answered quickly to her helm, 

 although she ran deep by the head on account of the accu- 

 mulated ice on her bows and head-hamper. Now the cry 



