98 TRAVELS 
a flranger here, and the native of a civilized country. The houfe 
was fituated on an eminence, and commanded on one fide a view 
of the oppofite mountains, and the malfes of fnow with which 
they are confhmtly covered ; on the other fide it afforded a prof- 
pe6l to the Frozen Ocean, which here penetrates into the land y 
and forms a confiderable gulf, near which the houfe in queftion 
was built. We were delighted at finding ourfelves at fo fhort a 
diftance from the objedl of our journey, which was to put an end 
to our toils and hardfhips. The beautiful colour of the fea, and 
the brilliant tranfparency of the waters, offered a moft pleafmg 
fpedtacle to our eyes ; but nothing, indeed, cheered our minds fo 
much as the idea of having fo far fucceeded in our enterprize. 
The fight of mountains covered with fnow, and the name of the 
Frozen Ocean, amidfl a heat as great as that in Italy, heightened 
the contrail between thofe oppofite circumflances, and reprefented 
this place to our imagination as fomething lingular and extraordi¬ 
nary, which was not to be met with in any other part of the 
world. Even the very thought of having reached the Frozen 
Ocean had fomething fublime in it: to enjoy it flill farther, and 
to make the moil of it, we determined to throw ourfelves into 
the waves of this fea, and to recruit our exhaufled flrength by a 
bath. The merchant gave us warning not to do this ; nobody, 
he faid, rilked bathing there, for fear of fharks : but we could not 
refill the flrong inclination that impelled us, and we did venture 
to plunge into the water. This, however, was fo infufferably 
cold, that it was not long before we came out of it, and we felt 
our 
