DECEPTIVE DISTANCES. 
Ill 
hundred feet high, gave but eighty-four. A second, 
measured by Captain G-riffin, gave but forty : I had 
confidently assumed it to be over two hundred feet in 
height. In fact, our very hummocks were enlarged to 
icebergs, and every berg we looked at flared up into a 
colossal mountain. Scoresby, the most practical and 
observant of all who have written upon these seas, at- 
tributes this effect to an increase in the apparent dis- 
tance. It seems to me that this false estimate of dis- 
tance itself falls under an interesting class of decep- 
tions almost convertible with the other, and, like it, 
dependent on the educated habitudes of the eye. Our 
ideas of distance determine our appreciation of magni- 
tude, and a mistake of the one makes an error of the 
other. In the words of Professor Henry, who has in- 
geniously applied this view to our apprehension of 
relative motion, " The mind draws wrong conclusions 
from the evidence of the senses." 
We remained with our anchors in the field ice for 
several days. The weather was clear and still, and 
gave us a favorable opportunity for observing the for- 
mation of the young ice on a large scale. When the 
thermometer is ranging between 33° and 28°, irregular 
polyhedral disks are seen forming over the whole open 
surface of the sea with a rapidity unknown under more 
southern skies, and covering it with a mosaic of pel- 
licles about the size of a common saucer. From these, 
acicular rays shoot out in every direction, and in a 
very little while interlock themselves in a net- work 
of crystals. The ice film is now complete. In a few 
minutes more it has thickened to sheet ice, and be- 
comes dangerous to navigators. One of our boats, 
which had been employed in passing from the brig to 
the field, was nearly cut through in a few hours. The 
« 
