VOYAGE TO GREENLAND. 
167 
rising in the most graceful form in a clear and 
cheerful atmosphere : it was clad in the whitest 
snow ; a rich cloud concealed a narrow space just 
below its summit, and a few patches of dark pro- 
truding rock, which, from their position, did not af- 
ford a rest for the snow, gave a pleasing variety to 
the extensive mass of white ; these appeared to be 
of the darkest blue colour, not probably from the 
hue of the stone, but from the tint given by dis- 
tance ; a curtain of mist, in a direct line, took from 
my sight the pedestal and base of this elevated 
mountain, and formed a relief to the dark boundary 
of the cliff. 
The south-west side of the island appeared to be 
volcanic, and on observation the relics of a crater 
became discernible. From the south-west end, a 
most abrupt termination arrested my attention. It 
appeared to be unlike the rock that formed the 
other part of the boundary of the island, and seemed 
as though it had been disjointed from the cliff by 
some extraordinary convulsion of nature. If ever 
there had been a continuity from this island to that 
of Iceland, here was unquestionably its course ; 
and it is an extraordinary coincidence, that this ap- 
parently disjointed part was in the direct line to 
that island. The surface of Jan Mayne that came 
under my view had but little snow upon it, and 
that only in small patches, drifted into hollows ; the 
rest of the soil had an unvaried covering of short 
herbage like grass. The wind blowing a very fresh 
breeze, accompanied by those dangerous squalls so 
