WASTED ICE. 
163 
lowed by a “ great fish,” it certainly could not have 
been a whale that had the felicity of his presence in 
its interior, as the throat of a whale is no larger than 
that of an ordinary bullock. If the likeness to a 
man's face in the mouth of. the whale was known to 
the men of old time, (and there is no reason to suspect 
that the fact was overlooked by them,) then it is easy 
to comprehend the allegory. 
July 2. We have a high sea and a stiff breeze ; we 
•carefully observe our old whaling captain’s instructions 
and keep a good look at the point ends. In this 
way every deep bight we see is canvassed as to its 
capability of sustaining whales, narwhals, bears, or 
seals. Eddy reports a whale blowing near the ice, , but 
there is a peculiarity about the ice which may deceive 
even his experienced eye. Wherever stones, or debris 
of any kind, happen to rest for any time upon the ice, 
a hole is soon made through it for some reason, perhaps 
owing to the opacity of the object; the sun’s rays act 
upon it, and the heat generated in this way thaws the 
ice above. Through these holes the water is driven 
up from below with great force, and comes rushing 
through with a hollow sound, somewhat like the 
noise made by the whale as he rises to the surface of 
the sea. This solemn sound in the still air, when per¬ 
fectly calm in a land-locked bay of ice, is startling when 
