86 



ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



of each column supporting the arches above were as chaste and 

 accurately represented as the most imaginative genius could con- 

 ceive. Here and there I saw matchless perfection displayed in 

 the curvature of lines about some of its ornamental parts. Spring- 

 ing out from a rude recess, away up in its vast height, I saw a 

 delicate scroll, which was quite in keeping with Hogarth's "Line 

 of Beauty." 



As I was gazing upon one of the many bergs we passed, it 

 overturned, and burst into a thousand fragments ! 



Eelative to the formation of these icebergs, Sterry — upon whose 

 authority alone I mention it, and who is entitled to his own the- 

 ory upon the subject — told me that, at a place between two 

 mountains in Northumberland Sound, he once counted something 

 like a hundred strata of ice that had been deposited, one layer 

 each year. They were of various thicknesses, each course marked 

 by a deposit of sediment like dirt. He did not complete count- 

 ing the number of layers, as the height would not admit of his 

 doing so. 



On our way across Davis's Strait, not far from Cape Mercy, we 

 passed the spot where, in 1856, the British discovery-ship Res- 

 olute had been found by the very vessel I was now on, the George 

 Henry. 



I have just been describing the beauty of icebergs as seen on 

 our way across ; let me now attempt to picture some of those gor- 

 geous sunsets and phenomena of Nature we witnessed. I extract 

 from my diary at the time : 



"July 28th. This evening the whole horizon has presented a 

 most beautiful sight. A zone of rich mellow purple, with match- 

 less tints darting upward to the height of some thirty degrees, met 

 the eye. Then all at once, as the sun disappeared, the purple was 

 replaced by a deep blue. As to the ' tints' of which I write, I am at 

 a loss to describe them. Take a thousand rainbows — stretch them 

 around the horizon — intermix them — entwine them — spin and 

 twist them together, and you have the appearance of those tints 

 crowning that zone, first of purple, then of blue. 



"July 31st. Strange sights to-night. Looking through my ma- 

 rine glass to the northeast, when the sun was about three degrees 

 above the horizon, I was astonished at the view before me. 

 Mountains, islands, icebergs, and the sea were in one vast confu- 

 sion. From the sun northerly to the southeast, wherever I turn- 

 ed my glass, confusion worse than things confounded met my 



