59 



nnd indentod by deep bays, or coves, many of which afford to ves- 

 sels a comfortable shelter from the rude gales to which these high 

 intitndes arc so subject. When the winds have ceased to blow 

 and the ocean is at rest, nothing can exceed the beautiful clear- 



tyof the hills, are distinctly visible for fifty or sixty miles, and the 

 various sea-fowl, resting upon the slight eminences and brought in 

 strong relief agiiinst the sky, ofttimes deceive the experienced eye 

 of the mariner by having their puny dimensions magnified in size 



and there studded with ice bergs, varying in magnitude from a few 

 feet to more than a mile in extent, and not unfrequently rising two 

 hundred feet in the air, presenting every variety of form, from the 

 snug whitewashed cottage of the peasant, to the enormous archi- 

 tectural pile, containing either broadly expanded Grecian domes, or 

 having the many lofty and finely attenuated spires of some Gothic 



The sun, even at midsummer, attains but a moderate alti- 

 tude in these dreary regions, and when its horizontal beams illu- 



catching the light as they move along, exhibit all the beautiful 

 gradations of colour from an emerald green to that of the finest 



cent, are tenanted by large assemblages of Penguins, whose chat- 

 tering noise may be heard on a still day at an incredible distance 

 over the clear smooth surface of the sea. When the storms rage 

 and the ocean rolls its mountain wave against their slippery sides, 



above their tops, soon become dissipated in clouds of misty white ; 

 gradually descending, they envelope the whole mass for a short 

 space of time, giving to it much tiie appearance of being covered 

 with a veil of silvery gauze. When thus agitated they not unfre- 

 quently explode with the noise of thunder, scattering their frag- 

 ments far and wide over the surrounding surface of the deep. These 

 hills of ice are Lome onwards at a considerable rate by the power of 

 tlie wind and the velocity of the current— when so, they sweep 

 along witii a majesty that nothing else can equal. 



The sky too in these latitudes presents a very singular aspect ; 

 being, most generally filled with innumerable clouds, torn into rag- 



