149 THE OCEAN. 
the night, the rigging of the ship was most splen- 
didly decorated with a fringe of delicate crystals. 
The general form of these was that of a feather 
having half of the vane removed. Near the surface 
of the ropes was first a small direct line of very 
white particles, constituting the stem or shaft of the 
feather; and from each of these fibres, in another 
plane, proceeded a short delicate range of spicule or 
rays, discoverable only by the help of a microscope, 
with which the elegant texture and systematic con- 
struction of the feather were completed. Many of 
these crystals, possessing a perfect arrangement of 
the different parts corresponding with the shaft, 
vane, and rachis of a feather, were upwards of an 
inch in length, and three-fourths of an inch in 
breadth. Some consisted of a single flake or feather ; 
but many of them gave rise to other feathers, which 
sprang from the surface of the vane at the usual 
angle. There seemed to be no limit to the magni- 
tude of these feathers, so long as the producing 
cause continued to operate, until their weight be- 
came so great, or the action of the wind so forcible, 
that they were broken off, and fell in flakes to the 
deck of the ship.”* 
In our own winters we are familiar enough with 
snow; but, probably, few are aware of the exceeding 
beauty, regularity, and delicacy which mark each in- 
dividual crystal of this production. In our climate, 
indeed, the temperature during a fall of snow is 
rarely low enough for the form of the crystals to be 
perceived; as they become slightly melted in passing 
* Arct. Reg. i, 437. 
