THE ARCTIC SEAS. 125 
been beating on the shore, had loosened a number 
of fragments attached to the iceberg, and various 
heaps of broken ice denoted recent shoots of the 
seaward edge. As we rode towards it, with a view 
of proceeding close to its base, I observed a few 
little pieces fall from the top; and while my eye 
was fixed upon the place, an immense column, pro- 
bably fifty feet square, and one hundred and fifty feet 
high, began to leave the parent ice at the top, and 
leaning majestically forward, with an accelerated 
velocity fell with an awful crash into the sea. The 
water into which it plunged was converted into an 
appearance of vapour or smoke, like that from a 
furious cannonading. The noise was equal to that 
of thunder, which it nearly resembled. The column 
which fell was nearly square, and in magnitude 
resembled a church. It broke into thousands of 
pieces. This circumstance was a happy caution, for 
we might inadvertently have gone to the very base 
of the icy cliff, from whence masses of considerable 
magnitude were continually breaking.”* 
“Tis sunset: to the firmament serene 
The Atlantic wave reflects a gorgeous scene ; 
Broad in the cloudless west, a belt of gold 
Girds the blue hemisphere; above unroll’d, 
The keen, clear air grows palpable to sight, 
Embodied in a flush of crimson light, 
Through which the evening star, with milder gleam, 
Descends to meet her image in the stream. 
Far in the east, what spectacle unknown 
Allures the eye to gaze on it alone? 
—Amidst black rocks, that lift on either hand 
Their countless peaks, and mark receding land ; 
* Arctic Regions, i. 104. 
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