y seen a great
number of icebergs, or islands of ice, of various shape and size, and of
singular and grotesque figure. The height of one of them was estimated
at three hundred and twenty-five feet; and a torrent of water was
pouring down its side. On another, to which the ships were, for a while,
made fast, a stratum of gravel, and stones of various kinds was
observed.

Whilst the vessels were near this iceberg, which was in latitude 68
degrees, 22 minutes, they were visited by some Esquimaux, inhabitants of
the adjacent country. From these persons they learnt that it had
remained aground since the preceding year; and that there was ice all
the way thence to _Disco Island_.

In the evening of the 12th of June, the weather being clear and serene,
the sky and the water presented one of the most beautiful scenes that
can be imagined. The former, near the horizon, was interspersed with
light and fleecy clouds, which decreased gradually in colour and
density, according to their height; until, in the zenith, they
disappeared entirely, and there the sky assumed a rich cerulean blue.
The water, on the other hand, presented a spectacle superbly grand. Let
any one fancy himself (says Captain Ross) in the midst of an immense
plain, extending further than the eye can penetrate, and filled with
masses of ice, which present a greater variety of form than the most
fertile imagination can conceive; and as various in size as in shape,
from the minutest fragments, to stupendous islands, more than one
hundred feet in perpendicular height above the surface of the ocean.

In the afternoon of the 14th of June, being near the Danish settlement,
on _Kron Prins Island_, in latitude 63 degrees, 54 minutes, the governor
of the settlement came on board the Isabella. This person stated that
the weather of the preceding winter had been unusually severe; and that,
during his residence of eleven years, in Greenland, the intensity of the
cold had gradually continued to increase. The whole population of the
island consisted of himself and family, six Danes, and one hundred
Esquimaux, whose occupation consisted chiefly in the capture of whales
and seals.

The vessels proceeded northward, along the edge of the ice, through a
crooked and narrow channel, in the midst of a firm field of ice, and a
tremendous ridge of icebergs.

At _Wayat's_ or _Hare Island_, the astronomical instruments were landed,
and some important errors, both of latitude and longi