monstrous block on the starboard side had not been long
adrift, for it showed but slight signs of weathering.

The fog thickened over a grey swell that shimmered with an oily lustre.
At 7 P.M. pack-ice came suddenly to view, and towards it we steered,
vainly peering through the mists ahead in search of a passage. The
ice was closely packed, the pieces being small and wellworn. On the
outskirts was a light brash which steadily gave place to a heavier
variety, composed of larger and more angular fragments. A swishing
murmur like the wind in the tree-tops came from the great expanse. It
was alabaster-white and through the small, separate chips was diffused
a pale lilac coloration. The larger chunks, by their motion and exposure
to wind and current, had a circle of clear water; the deep sea-blue
hovering round their water-worn niches. Here and there appeared the
ochreous-yellow colour of adhering films of diatoms.

As we could not see what lay beyond, and the pack was becoming heavier,
the ship was swung round and headed out.

Steering to the west through open water and patches of trailing brash,
we were encouraged to find the pack trending towards the south. By
pushing through bars of jammed floes and dodging numerous bergs, twenty
miles were gained due southwards before the conditions had changed. The
fog cleared, and right ahead massive bergs rose out of an ice-strewn
sea. We neared one which was a mile in length and one hundred feet in
height. The heaving ocean, dashing against its mighty, glistening walls,
rushed with a hollow boom into caverns of ethereal blue; gothic portals
to a cathedral of resplendent purity.

The smaller bergs and fragments of floe crowded closer together, and the
two men at the wheel had little time for reverie. Orders came in quick
succession--"Starboard! Steady!" and in a flash--"Hard-a-port!" Then
repeated all over again, while the rudder-chains scraped and rattled in
their channels.

Gradually the swell subsided, smoothed by the weight of ice. The
tranquillity of the water heightened the superb effects of this glacial
world. Majestic tabular bergs whose crevices exhaled a vaporous azure;
lofty spires, radiant turrets and splendid castles; honeycombed masses
illumined by pale green light within whose fairy labyrinths the water
washed and gurgled. Seals and penguins on magic gondolas were the silent
denizens of this dreamy Venice. In the soft glamour of the midsummer
midnight sun, we wer