FIRST ICEBERG. 



35 



quantity. I had a fine view of these monsters of the deep, as they 

 came within pistol-shot of the vessel. It was a grand sight to me 

 to see a fish (is a whale a fish ?) 100 feet long propelling itself 

 quietly forward through the water as though it were but an hum- 

 ble mountain trout. 



" June 20th, lat. 53° 9', long. 51° 16'. A good run, with a fair 

 breeze since yesterday. Approaching the north axis of the earth ! 

 Ay, nearing the goal of my fondest wishes. Every thing relating 

 to the arctic zone is deeply interesting to me. I love the snows, 

 the ices, icebergs, the fauna, and the flora of the North ! I love 

 the circling sun, the long day, the arctic night, when the soul can 

 commune with God in silent and reverential awe ! I am on a mis- 

 sion of love. I feel to be in the performance of a duty I owe to 

 mankind — myself— God ! Thus feeling, I am strong at heart, full 

 of faith, ready to do or die in the cause I have espoused. 



" This evening the sun set about ten minutes to nine o'clock, 

 but it was quite light at ten o'clock. 



" Thursday, June 21st. This morning, a few minutes after eight 

 o'clock, I went upon deck to take my usual exercise. I noticed 

 or felt a perceptible change in the temperature of the air. I look- 

 ed at the thermometer and saw that it was falling. I tried the 

 sea-water, and found that much colder also, being only two de- 

 grees above freezing point. I immediately concluded that we 



were near icebergs, and mentioned it to Captain B , also to 



Sterry ; but, though the latter had been on several voyages to the 

 arctic regions, and had spent four winters there, he doubted my 

 ideas about it, especially when I ventured to predict we should 

 see them within three hours. He said ' we should not,' and even 

 laid a wager upon it; but at twelve o'clock the -icebergs were 

 really seen, and many of the old salts on board at once set me 

 down as well up in arctic knowledge. 



" Directly the announcement was made I went on deck, and 

 there, far away to the west, had my first view of an iceberg. By 

 the aid of a good glass, presented by M'Allister & Brothers, 

 of Philadelphia, the grandeur of this icy mountain of the deep 

 was brought before me. Brief, however, was the glance I had. 

 The motion of the vessel was such that I pould not at first keep 

 the iceberg within the field of the glass. But perhaps it was well 

 I did not see all its splendor and magnificence at once. For years 

 I had longed to see an iceberg, and, even in the distant view I 

 then had, all my conceptions of its grandeur were more than real- 



