&52 Captain Scoresby*s Journal of a Voyage to the 
The land, to appearance, was suddenly brought fifteen or twenty 
miles nearer us ; its boldness and clearness, as seen from the deck, 
being superior to what its elevation and distinctness had previously 
been as seen from the mast-head. The ice about the horizon as- 
sumed various singular forms : — hummocks became vertical columns, 
— floes and fields arose above the horizon, like cliffs of prismatic- 
formed spar, — and, in many places, the ice was reflected in the at- 
mosphere at some minutes elevation above the horizon. The ships 
around us, consisting of eight or nine sail, presented extraordinary 
characters. Their sails and masts were strangely distorted. Some- 
times the courses would be depressed to almost nothing ; the top- 
sails expanded to near four times their proper height, and the top- 
gallant-sails truncated. Occasionally a very odd spectacle occurred; 
an additional sail appeared above the topgallant- sail, like a royal 
hanging loose ; and sometimes the expanded topsail, divided into 
two distinct sails, by the separation of all the additional height given 
by the refraction, which, slowly rolling upward, as it were, like the 
lifting of a curtain, dispersed, and became invisible, after leaving 
the mast-head. Above some distant ships, there was an inverted 
image in the air, many times larger than the object itself : this, in 
some instances, was at a considerable elevation above the ship ; but 
it was found to be of a less size whenever the original and the image 
were not in contact. The image of one ship was distinctly seen for 
several minutes together, though the object to which it referred was 
not in sight ! One ship was crowned with two images ; the first an in- 
verted one, and the second, a circumstance I never before observed, 
in its proper position. Altogether, the shipping, and other objects 
around us, presented a most amusing spectacle. They were per- 
petually changing their appearance, and afforded me abundant 
entertainment for hours together. The most remarkable effect pro- 
duced, was on the most distant objects, the interesting appearances 
of which not being discernible without the use of a telescope, pro- 
bably escaped general observation.” P. 1 1 7-1 1 9« 
The days of June 21, 22, and 23, were employed in the ac- 
tive pursuit of whales, but without success ; and here an inte- 
resting account is given of the loss of one of the harpooners, who 
got entangled in one of the lines, and was hurried from the boat 
into the depth of the ocean, with the velocity of a cannon ball. 
On the 25th a whale was harpooned. It took 960 fathoms of 
line from the 66 fast-boat,’ 1 was re-struck, and killed, after an in- 
terval of three hours. On the 26th of June, the whales having 
left them, they proceeded to the westward in search of them, in- 
to a large clear opening, several leagues in breadth. In beating 
through the ice to reach the opening, irregular alternations of 
blue and turbid-green water were observed on every tack the 
ship took. In the evening, they again approached nearer to the 
land, being in Lat. 71° 9', Long. 18° 48' W., and obtained a 
