Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 1.djvu/44

Rh even in the distant view I then had, all my conceptions of its grandeur were more than realized. When first seen it was perhaps ten miles off, and appeared about 130 feet high, judging from a calculation made. As, toward evening, we approached, it appeared a mountain of alabaster resting calmly upon the bosom of the dark blue sea. Behind it was the setting sun just dipping its nether limb in the waters, while its upper reached some thick, heavy clouds extending half around the horizon, bathing them in a flood of crimson! Close by, and peering out from a break in the sky, were Venus and the new moon, making a scene of sublimity and beauty fit for a poet's pen or the pencil of an artist. Not before ten o'clock P.M. were we alongside this magnificent pile of ice, and then, as it were, I had an opportunity of shaking hands with the first iceberg I had ever seen. It is said that lovers like darkness better than light, and the hour named would seem to indicate that darkness was upon the face of the deep when I and my 'idol' met. But not so; light abounded: not that of noonday, but that of early eve, when the sun had withdrawn his glowing face. Then it was we met. Iceberg was silent; I too was silent. I stood in the presence of God's work ! Its fashioning was that of the Great Architect! He who hath builded such monuments, and cast them forth upon the waters of the sea, is God, and there can be none other!" After this, numerous icebergs were seen, one of which we passed within a stone's throw. At a distance it had appeared of a pyramidal form, but on coming close its outline wholly changed. This I find to be a characteristic of almost all views—of none more strikingly so than that of an iceberg. "Distance lends enchantment to the view," so goes the old saw, and, to a certain extent, this is true.

But, on another occasion, I had a more minute inspection of one of these icy monsters of the deep. A large solitary berg at one time was not far from us, and, as the weather permitted, a boat was sent in charge of the mate that I might have the opportunity of examining it.

On arriving near, it was found of irregular form at the base,