OUTWAltD PASSAGli. 
27 
a highly aiul unequally refractive medium. In 
consequence of this, the cliffs were reared to an 
uncommon altitude, and presented the beautiful 
basaltic character, which it is a general property 
of this remarkable state of the atmosphere to pro¬ 
duce. The apparent columns were all vertical, 
or nearly so, and, when slightly waved, maintained 
their parallelism, the curvature of the adjoining 
columns corresponding with each other. 
The ice upon this coast was of the drift kind, 
consisting of irregular masses of various height and 
thickness, closely packed together, or perhaps fro¬ 
zen, in the interior, into extensive sheets. This 
barrier of ice, skirting the coast, prevented our 
access to the shore. 
During the passage from Liverpool to this si¬ 
tuation, nothing new in the zoological depart¬ 
ment was observed. Near the Lewis, several 
stonily petrels ( Procellar ia pclagica) were seen ; 
and off Feroe, a number of gannets (Pelecanus 
bassamis). Fulmar petrels (Procellaria gla- 
cialis) were always about us after we left the 
Hebrides ; and some of the same birds appeared 
to accompany us for many degrees of latitude. 
Kittiwakes (Lanis rissa) were seen in great 
abundance; and arctic gulls (L. parasiticus), 
burgomasters (L. glaucus), and snow-birds (L. 
eburnciis) were occasionally hovering near us, 
