118 TASMANIA AND THE ANTARCTIC 
less for Several Seconds before he Could Speak to the man 
next to him. 
Beholding with Silent Surprize the great and wonderful 
works of nature in this position we had an opportunity to 
discern the barrier in its Splendid position. Then i wishd. 
i was an artist or a draughtsman instead of a blacksmith 
and Armourer We Set a Side all thoughts of mount Erebus 
And Victoria's Land to bear in mind the more Imaginative 
thoughts of this rare phenomena that was lost to human 
view 
In Gone by Ages. 
When Captn. Ross Came on deck he was Equally Sur- 
prizd. to See the Beautiful Sight Though being in the north 
Arctic Regions one half of his life he never see any ice in 
Arctic Seas to be Compard. to the Barrier. So that the 
South Pole must be degrees colder than the North pole is 
evident from the Enormous thickness of the ice. An Ice 
island floats on the water with | under water, consequently 
the ice islands we have Seen two hundred feet hight above 
the Surface of the water must be Sixteen hundred feet high. 
That is exactly four times than the Cross of St. Paul's 
Cathedral in London. To view an iceberg when the Sun 
shines clear on it for any time is very injurious to the Eyes 
for the Avalanches in the Ice presents a deep blue and 
greenish hue. From a concussion of air that generally 
casts a dimness on the Sight and leaves the object the greatest 
Source of wonder and admiration. It would take a man 
of Talents to describe this unequal Sight For no imagi- 
native Power can convey an adequate idea of the 
Resplendant Sublimity of the Antarctic Ice wall. It is 
quite Certain and out of Doubt that from the seventy eight 
Degree to pole must be one SoHd continent of Ice and Snow. 
The Fragments as i call the floating Islands though Large 
Enough to build London on their Summit must through a 
Long Succession of years have parted from the Barrier they 
could never accumulate to such Enormous hight othermse. 
Some bergs from one mile Sqre to ten miles and Some Larger 
but i could not ascertain the sqre of them. 
A lighter scene emerges on the return to Hobart Town, 
April 7 to July 7, 1841. While the ships were cleaned and 
