118 
GltEENJ.ANll VOYAGE. 
tical columns,—Hoes and fields arose above the ho¬ 
rizon, like cliffs of prismatic-formed spar,—and, in 
many places, the ice was reflected in the atmo¬ 
sphere at some minutes elevation above the ho¬ 
rizon. The ships around us, consisting of eight 
or nine sail, presented extraordinary characters. 
(Plate II, fig. 2.) Their sails and masts were 
strangely distorted. Sometimes the courses would 
be depressed to almost nothing; the top-sails ex¬ 
panded to near four times their proper height, 
and the topgallant-sails truncated. Occasionally 
a very odd spectacle occurred : an additional sail 
appeared above the topgallant-sail, like a royal 
hanging loose; and sometimes the expanded top¬ 
sail, divided into two distinct sails, by the sepa¬ 
ration of all the additional height given by the 
refraction, which, slowly rolling upward, as it 
were, like the lifting of a curtain, dispersed, and 
became invisible, after leaving the mast-head. 
Above some distant ships, there was an inverted 
image in the air, many times larger than the ob¬ 
ject itself: this, in some instances, was at a con¬ 
siderable elevation above the ship ; but it was 
found to be of a less size whenever the original and 
the image were not in contact. The image of 
one ship was distinctly seen for several minutes 
together, though the object to which it referred 
was not in sight ! One ship was crowned with 
