Page:The open Polar Sea- a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States" (IA openpolarseanarr1867haye).pdf/259

 the skies. The play of this many-colored light upon the surrounding objects was truly wonderful. The weird forms of countless icebergs, singly and in clusters, loomed above the sea, and around their summits the strange gleam shone as the fires of Vesuvius over the doomed temples of Campania. Upon the mountain tops, along the white surface of the frozen waters, upon the lofty cliffs, the light glowed and grew dim and glowed again, as if the air was filled with charnel meteors, pulsating with wild inconstancy over some vast illimitable city of the dead. The scene was noiseless, yet the senses were deceived, for unearthly sounds seemed to follow the rapid flashes, and to fall upon the ear like

"the tread Of phantoms dread, With banner, and spear, and flame."

January 13th.

The month of January runs on through stormy skies. The wind continues to blow as before, and the wild rush of gales fills the night with sounds of terror.

The air has been, however, for the most part, quite clear. But little snow has fallen since November. The total depth now mounts up to 53-3/4 inches. I am more and more struck with the difference in the atmospheric conditions of this place and Van Rensselaer Harbor. There we had rarely moisture, and gales were scarcely known. The temperatures were very low, and the winter was marked by a general calm. Here the temperatures are more mild than Parry's at Melville Island, the atmospheric disturbances have been very great, and the amount of snow has been truly surprising. There is one comfort at least in the winds. They either carry off the snow or pack it