This Was An Iceberg, And Of The Largest Size, As One Of Our Men Said
Who Had Been In The Northern Ocean.
As far as the eye could reach,
the sea in every direction was of a deep blue color, the
Waves
running high and fresh, and sparkling in the light, and in the
midst lay this immense mountain-island, its cavities and valleys
thrown into deep shade, and its points and pinnacles glittering
in the sun.
All hands were soon on deck, looking at it, and admiring in various
ways its beauty and grandeur. But no description can give any idea
of the strangeness, splendor, and, really, the sublimity, of the sight.
Its great size; - for it must have been from two to three miles
in circumference, and several hundred feet in height; - its
slow motion, as its base rose and sank in the water, and its
high points nodded against the clouds; the dashing of the waves
upon it, which, breaking high with foam, lined its base with
a white crust; and the thundering sound of the cracking of
the mass, and the breaking and tumbling down of huge pieces;
together with its nearness and approach, which added a slight
element of fear, - all combined to give to it the character of
true sublimity. The main body of the mass was, as I have said,
of an indigo color, its base crusted with frozen foam; and as it
grew thin and transparent toward the edges and top, its color
shaded off from a deep blue to the whiteness of snow.
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