VOYAGE TO GREENLAND. 
35 
if designed as rustic bridges, supported on columns, 
with regular capitals, most perfectly and beautifully 
formed. One of these extraordinary forms must 
have derived the regularity of its parts immediately 
above the surface, from the vibrating action and 
friction of the sea lashing those parts within its 
reach. It was of the following dimensions : pil- 
lars above the surface, six feet long ; capitals, one 
foot; the superincumbent mass, from eighteen to 
twenty feet, and upwards of one hundred feet in 
width. 
The wind ceasing, and a seal being observed on 
a piece of ice, I requested a boat ; but it became 
alarmed, and I could not get near it ; however I 
shot an Anas mollissima, (Buff.,) or Eiderdrake, of 
the most beautiful kind. It had a black bill, some- 
what elevated; forehead of velvet black: a broad 
black bar, glossed with purple, extended from thence 
beyond each eye ; middle of the head, whole neck, 
upper part of the back, scapulas, and coverts of the 
wings, white ; below the hind part of the head, a 
stain of pea-green ; lower part of the back, tail, 
breast, and whole under side of the body, black; 
legs, greenish ; weight, seven pounds ; length, two 
feet two inches; and extent of wing, three feet. 
Nature having clothed this species of birds with 
the 'warmest covering of down, their skin is rendered 
so exceedingly valuable that it forms a consider- 
able article of commerce from Iceland. They dive 
to a great depth, and keep under water an astonish- 
ing time. They are supposed not to arrive at their 
