y we dashed by them like a whirlwind;
whilst the disappointed men gesticulating fiercely, with their red
"fell o' hair" blowing to the four corners of the earth, and their wild
eyes and ogre mouths agape, yelled forth a volley of strange sounds,
soon drowned by the louder roar of these summer waves. This was happily
the only danger we incurred from the natives; we saw no more of them,[2]
and right glad were all-hands when the last glimpse of the Hebrides, or
Western Isles, as they are called in their charts, faded away in their
mist.

After this date one heavy blow succeeded another until the first of
August, with seldom sun enough to afford an observation: yet it mattered
not; like sea-birds we "rode and slept," for the excellence of the boat,
and the way in which she was handled, was evident enough to inspire even
the nervousness of inexperience with confidence; and the efficiency of
our domestic arrangements bade defiance to the anger of the
elements;--uninfluenced by their frowns as by their smiles, on went the
work, and meal succeeded meal with faultless regularity.

On the second of August we passed within the immediate atmosphere of a
huge iceberg. We had for some time previous been enveloped in fog, which
suddenly lifting, showed us this isle of ice, and two other smaller
ones.

The main island, by which we were most attracted, lay about a quarter of
a mile to leeward, of dazzling whiteness, and picturesque of form,
having at one end a lofty cone-shaped mountain, and at the other an
angular bold mound, crowned by what we decided to be an extensive Gothic
fortalice or castle, not unworthy the Ice-king himself if bent on a
summer trip round the gulf stream: between these promontories lay a deep
valley thickly tenanted by tribes of the white gull.

Three sides of Castle-hill were regularly scarped, the fourth
communicated by a neatly kept slope with the valley, and along this
radiated a number of well-trodden paths, all uniting at the castle gate,
at once giving evidence of considerable population, and great
hospitality on the part of the worthy castellan.

The position of these islands was unusual, and their appearance
occasioned a little surprise, although the fall of the thermometer, and
the change in the temperature of the water, had led Captain Maxwell,
some hours before we met them, to decide upon their vicinity.

On the banks of Newfoundland they are common at this season of the year,
and form, indeed