164 
Greenland voyage. 
dium, the 'cliff it-seemed to constitute had the co¬ 
lour and appearance of real basaltic columns ; and 
where both water and ice were refracted, the 
specks and patches of ice had sometimes so much 
of the character and appearance of land, that one 
of my principal officers, who was familiar with the 
general phenomena, was deceived by it. Some¬ 
times the effect of the refraction was similar in all 
quarters ; at others it presented various striking 
differences. Often the hummocky parts of the 
horizon were reared into various architectural 
figuies of extraordinary elevation : and occasional¬ 
ly, as observed in a former instance, the whole dis¬ 
tant margin of ice was deeply serrated, in resem¬ 
blance of an innumerable collection of spires and 
pinnacles, or in the form of a thick forest of naked 
trees. 
In the evening of the 18th, a great number of 
ships (to the amount of about thirty) being in 
sight, several novelties, with regard to their refract¬ 
ed appearance occurred, together with some pecu¬ 
liarities in the form and character of the land. 
On the preceding day, as well as on the 9th of 
July, when the atmosphere was in a similar state, 
the refracted forms of the ships were generally in¬ 
distinct, and somewhat confused; but this even¬ 
ing, about 9 P. M., the refracted ships, with their 
repeated images, were most beautifully and dis- 
