Appearance of the maind moon it tuewima ivirAD^Tir ^uiTTcr Proceeding* of the Peacock ,„, 

 time.— Fight beiwwn a while mul killer. AftlAKLlIl LHLIiit. SoundinRi. 135 



it in thin quarter, they stood out of the bay, which 

 was about twenty miles deep, to proceed to the 

 westward, hoping to get an opportunity to ap- 

 proach the object more closely OB the other side. 



We luij a beautiful and unusual sight presented 

 to 11s this night: die sun and moon both ap 

 peared abovo the horizon at the same time, and 

 each throwing its light abroad. The latter was 

 nearly fulL The former illuminated the icebergs 

 ami distant continent with his deep golden rays; 

 while the latter, in the opposite horizon, tinged 

 with silvery light the clouds in its immediate 

 neighbourhood. There now beiug no doubt in 

 any mind of the discovery of land, it gave an 

 e\eiting interest to tin- cruise, that appeared to 

 set aside all thought of fatigue, ami to make every 

 one willing to eucountcr any difficulty to effect a 

 landing. 



20th. This day, on board the Peacock they wit- 

 nessed a sea-tight between a whale and one of its 

 many enemies. The sea was quite smooth, and 

 offered the best possible view of the whole combat. 

 First, at a distance from the ship, a whale was 

 seen floundering in a most extraordinary way, lash- 

 ing the smooth sea into a perfect foam, and en- 

 deavouring apparently to extricate himself from 

 some annoyance. As he approached the ship, the 

 struggle continuing and becoming more violent, 

 it was perceived that a fish, apparently about 

 twenty feet long, held him by the jaw, his contor- 

 tions, spouting, and throes all betokening the ajjony 

 of the huge monster. The whale now threw him- 

 self at full length from the water with open mouth, 

 hia pursuer still hanging to the jaw, the blood 

 issuing from the wound and dyeing tbi- sea to a 

 distance around- but all his llinindoriuii.s were of 

 no avail; his pertinacious enemy still maintained 

 his hold, and was evidently getting the advantage 

 of him. Much alarm seemed to be fell by the 

 many other whales around. These *' killers/' as 

 they are called, are of a brownish colour on the 

 hack, and white on the holly, with a long dorsal fin. 

 Such was the turbulence with which I hey passed, 

 that a good view could not he had of them to make 

 out more nearly the description. These fish attack 

 a whale in the same way {is dogs bait a bull, and 

 worry him to death. They are armed with strong 

 sharp teeth, and generally seize the whale by the 

 lower jaw. It is said that the only part of them 

 they eat is the tongue. The whalers give some 

 marvellous accounts of these killers and of their 

 immense strength ; among them, that Ihey have 

 been known to a whale away from several 



boats which were lowing it to the ship. 



There was a great quantity of animaleulte in the 

 water, and some large squids (medusie) and quan- 

 tities of shrimp were frequently seen about the 

 icebergs; these are no doubt the attractions which 

 bring whales to frequent these seas. 



The last two days we had very many beautiful 

 snow-white petrels about. The character of the ice 

 had now become entirely changed. The tabular- 

 formed icebergs prevailed, aud there was com- 

 paratively little lield-ice. Some of the bergs were 

 of maguificent dimensions, one-third of a mite in 

 length, and from one hundred aud fifty to two 

 hundrt-d feet in height, with sides perfectly smooth, 

 as though they had been chiselled. Others again, 

 exhibited lofty arches of many -coloured tints, lend- 

 ing into deep caverns, open to the swell of the 



sea, which rushing in, produced loud and distant 

 thunderings. The (light of birds passing in and 

 nut of these caverns, recalled the recollection of 

 ruined abbeys, castles, and caves, while here and 

 there a bold projecting bluff, crowned with pinnacles 

 and turrets, resembled some Gothic keep. A little 

 further onwards would be seen a vast fissure, as if 

 some powerful force had rent in twain these mighty 

 masses. Every noise on board, even our own voices, 

 reverberated from the massive and pure white wallH. 

 These tabular l*ergs are like masses of beautiful 

 alabaster: a verbal description of them can do 

 little to convey the reality to the imagination of 

 one who has not been among them. If an im- 

 mense city of ruined alabaster palaces can be 

 imagined, of every variety of shape and tint, and 

 composed of huge piles of buildings grouped to- 

 gether, with Jong lanes or streets winding irre- 

 gularly through them, some faint idea may be 

 formed of the grandeur and beauty of the spec- 

 tacle. The time and circumstances under which 

 we were viewing them, llireading our way through 

 these vast bergs, we knew not to what end, left an 

 impression upon me of these icy aud desolate 

 regions that can never be forgotten. 



22ud. It was now, during fine weather, one con- 

 tinued day ; but wo had occasional snow-Bq nails 

 that produced an obscurity that was tantalizing. 

 The liergs were so vast and inaccessible, that there 

 was no possibility of landing upon them. 



The Peacock and Porpoise were in sight of each 

 other this day. A large number of whales, al- 

 batrosses, petrels, penguins, &c, were seen around, 

 and a flock of ducks was also reported as having 

 been seen from the Vincennes, as well as several 

 Beak The effect of sunrise, at a little after 2 a.m., 

 on the 23rd, was glorious. 



As the events which occurred on board the 

 Peacock during the next few days are particularly 

 inten Mint;, 1 shall proceed to narrate them in de- 

 tail, leaving the Vincennes aud Porpoise to pursue 

 their route along their dangerous and novel path- 

 way. 



The Peacock stood into the bay which the Vin- 

 cennes had found closed the day before, and saw 

 the same appearance of hi<>h land in the distance. 

 The water MM much discoloured, and of a dark 

 dirty green. They hove-to, for the douhle purpose 

 of getting a cast of the lead, aud of lowering the 

 boats to carry tho instruments to a small iceberg, 

 on which it was possible to land, for the purpose 

 of making magnetic observations. A line of one 

 thousand four hundred fathoms was prepared to 

 sound, and to the lead was nltachcd the cylinder 

 with Six's thermometer. The wind being fresh, 

 several leads at different distances were attached 

 to the line. They were not aware that the lead- 

 line had touched bottom, until they began to haul 

 in, when it was found that the lead bent on at five 

 hundred fathoms was filled with blue and slate- 

 coloured mud. Attached to the lead also was a 

 piece of stone, and a fresh bruise on it, as though 

 the lead had struck heavily on rock. 



The remainder of the liue had evidently Jaiu on 

 the bottom, as the copper cylinder was covered 

 with mud, and the water inside of it was quite 

 muddy. They then beat up a short distance 

 to windward, and again sounded, when, with tho 

 line hanging vertically, buttom was reached at 

 three hundred and twenty fathoms ; the matter 



