Page:A voyage round the world, in His Britannic Majesty's sloop, Resolution, commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the years 1772, 3, 4, and 5 (IA b30413849 0001).pdf/131

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their frequency however still led to new observations, which our long acquaintance with them served to confirm. We were certain of meeting with ice in any quarter where we perceived a strong reflexion of white on the skirts of the sky near the horizon. However the ice is not always entirely white, but often tinged, especially near the surface of the sea, with a most beautiful sapphirine or rather berylline blue, evidently reflected from the water; this blue colour sometimes appeared twenty or thirty feet above the surface, and was there probably owing to some particles of sea-water which had been dashed against the mass in tempestuous weather, and had penetrated into its interstices. We could likewise frequently observe in great islands of ice, different shades or casts of white, lying above each other in strata of six inches or one foot high. This appearance seems to confirm the opinion concerning the farther encrease and accumulation of such huge masses by heavy falls of snow at different intervals. For snow being of various kinds, small grained, large grained, in light feathery locks, &c, the various degrees of its compactness account for the different colours of the strata.

We did not lose sight of our destination to explore the southern frigid zone, and no sooner perceived the sea more open than before, than we stood once more to the southward. We made but small advances at first, the wind being very faint, and almost falling calm in the morning