ll keeping close on his quarter. In ten minutes
they drew quite near to that wild and magnificent ruined city of alabaster
that was floating about in the antarctic sea!

Notwithstanding the imminent peril that now most seriously menaced the two
schooners, it was not possible to approach that scene of natural grandeur
without feelings of awe, that were allied quite as much to admiration as
to dread. Apprehension certainly weighed on every heart; but curiosity,
wonder, even delight, were all mingled in the breasts of the crews. As the
vessels came driving down into the midst of the bergs, everything
contributed to render the movements imposing in all senses, appalling in
one. There lay the vast maze of floating mountains, generally of a
spectral white at that hour, though many of the masses emitted hues more
pleasing, while some were black as night. The passages between the bergs,
or what might be termed the streets and lanes of this mysterious-looking,
fantastical, yet sublime city of the ocean, were numerous, and of every
variety. Some were broad, straight avenues, a league in length; others
winding and narrow; while a good many were little more than fissures, that
might be fancied lanes.

The schooners had not run a league within the bergs before they felt much
less of the power of the gale, and the heaving and setting of the seas
were sensibly diminished. What was, perhaps, not to be expected, the
field-ice had disappeared entirely within the passages of the bergs, and
the only difficulty in navigating was to keep in such channels as had
outlets, and which did not appear to be closing. The rate of sailing of
the two schooners was now greatly lessened, the mountains usually
intercepting the wind, though it was occasionally heard howling and
scuffling in the ravines, as if in a hurry to escape, and pass on to the
more open seas. The grinding of the ice, too, came down in the currents of
air, furnishing fearful evidence of dangers that were not yet distant. As
the water was now sufficiently smooth, and the wind, except at the mouths
of particular ravines, was light, there was nothing to prevent the
schooners from approaching each other. This was done, and the two masters
held a discourse together on the subject of their present situation.

"You're a bold fellow, Daggett, and one I should not like to follow in a
voyage round the world," commenced Roswell. "Here we are, in the midst of
some hundreds of ice-bergs; a glorio