"Few sights in nature are more imposing than that of the huge solitary iceberg, as, regardless alike of wind and tide, it steers its course across the face of the deep far away from land. Like one of the Frost-giants of Scandinavian mythology, it issues from the portals of the north armed with great blocks of stone. Proudly it sails on. The waves that dash in foam against its sides shake not the strength of its crystal walls, nor tarnish the sheen of its emerald caves. Sleet and snow, storm and tempest, are its congenial elements. Night falls around, and the stars are reflected tremulously from a thousand peaks, and from the green depths of ( caverns measureless to man.' Dawn again arises, and the slant rays of the rising sun gleam brightly on every projecting crag and pinnacle, as the berg still floats steadily on; yet, as it gains more southern latitudes, what could not be accomplished by the united fury of the waves, is slowly effected by the mildness of the climate. The floating island becomes gradually shrouded in mist, streamlets everywhere trickle down its sides, and great crags ever and anon fall with a sullen plunge into the deep. The mass becoming top-heavy, reels over, exposing to light rocky fragments still firmly imbedded. These, as the ice around them gives way, are dropped one by one into the ocean, until at last the iceberg itself melts away, the mists are dispelled, and sunshine once more rests upon the dimpled face of the deep."-Geikie.

Sea water is converted into ice in a somewhat different manner from fresh water. When a freezing wind blows over the surface of the ocean, the motion of the waves prevents solid ice from being at first formed, but the water is congealed into a spongy mass called sludge; this has the effect, to some extent, of stilling the waves, and it forms itself into small round plates, of about a foot in diameter, which, according to Captain Lyon's simile, have the appearance of the scales of gigantic fishes. These plates, (called pancakes by the sailors,) by adhering together, become a solid surface of ice, which, under the influence of the frost, extends in every direction, until at length a field of ice is formed which sometimes occupies an area of several hundred square miles, increasing in thickness as the winter advances.

During the winter, of about nine months, all navigation is of course suspended in these frozen regions. The warmth of the summer's sun, however, gradually softens the icy floor, and the first strong wind, causing a swell in the ocean, detaches the fields of ice from the shores; and, being once set afloat, they are broken by the violence of the winds and currents into small fields, called floes, the extent of which can be distinguished from the mast-head of a ship. When the field is broken into pieces not exceeding forty or fifty yards across, the whole is called a pack; when the pieces are broad, they form a patch; and when long and narrow, a stream. When a ship can sail freely through these masses, the ice is said to be loose, or open, and is called drift ice.

The surface of the ice in the Arctic regions is by no means level. The enormous fields and floes, driven about by the violence of winds and currents, sometimes approach in opposite directions, and strike against each other with the force of millions of tons, forcing up large masses of ice ten, twenty, or thirty feet above the common level, and forming what are called hummocks. When a ship is placed between these opposing masses it may be crushed like a walnut, or be lifted completely out of the water, and be placed high and dry on the ice.

The presence of fields and other masses of ice is often discovered at a great distance by a glare of light in the horizon, occasioned by a reflection from the surface of the ice against the opposite atmosphere. This appearance, called ice-blink, points out to the experienced navigator, twenty or thirty miles beyond the limit of direct vision, the extent and quality of the ice. Should any dark spots or patches occur in it, he knows that they correspond to certain openings of water, and endeavours to make his way in their direction. The presence of open water is also indicated by the vapour which rises from it being condensed by the cold into a visible form resembling smoke; and on this account it is called frost smoke.—The ice-blink sometimes produces remarkable effects of refraction on the neighbouring coast, giving it the appearance "of an extensive city, abounding with the ruins of castles, obelisks, churches, and monuments."

ADVENTURES IN SPITZBERGEN.

IN the Arctic Ocean, midway between Lapland and the North Pole, lies the group of islands known by the name of Spitzbergen. They were discovered in 1596, by the Dutch navigator, William Barentz, in the course of an attempt to accomplish a passage to India by the Arctic seas.

At the extreme north of Spitzbergen proper is a cluster of small islands called the Seven Sisters. These islands are the most northern land on the globe yet reached by man. They lie within six hundred miles of the Pole.

The western coasts of Spitzbergen were long the main seat of the whale fishery; and were frequented every year by vessels from England, Holland, and France; till the whales, retreating before their mighty destroyers, sought refuge in the Greenland seas.

Very little is known of the interior of Spitzbergen, but the coasts have often been explored, and present to the eye immense glaciers, and lofty mountains covered with perpetual snow.

In some places there is a narrow belt of low land between the mountains and the coast; but in other places the steep cliffs of the mountain-ridge reach to the shore, and overhang the ocean.

Vegetation is confined to a few plants of stunted growth, which do not rise above three or four inches from the ground. During the brief Arctic summer, these plants spring up, flower, and seed, in a month or six weeks; but produce nothing on which human beings can subsist.

The sea-fowl on the coasts are so abundant that in many places they literally hide the rocks and darken the air.

The larger forms of animal life are foxes, bears, and rein-deer; in pursuit of which, as well as the walrus and the seal abounding along the coasts, the islands are frequently visited by the Norwegians and Russians.

The following is an interesting account of the adventures of some Russian sailors, who were left for six years on these dreary shores:

A Russian vessel, which had sailed from Archangel for the whale fishery in 1743, being driven by the wind to the eastern side of the island, found itself beset by floating ice, without hope of deliverance. One of the party recollected that a hut had been erected on this coast by some of his countrymen, under the apprehension of being obliged to spend the winter there. He and three others set out to discover the place. With much difficulty they reached the land, leaping from fragment to fragment of moving ice; then, separating and going in different directions, they found the cottage; which, though ruinous, afforded shelter for the night.

Early in the morning they hastened to the shore, to convey to their comrades this happy intelligence. But what must have been their horror, when they saw only a vast open sea, without a vestige of the ship, or even of the numerous icebergs which had been tossing through the waves! A violent gale had dispersed them all, and apparently also destroyed the vessel, which was never heard of more.

These four unfortunate seamen, abandoned in such frightful circumstances, having the long winter to pass without food, or implements to procure any, did not, however, give way to despair. They had a gun, with which they shot twelve deer. Then their ammunition failed; but some pieces of iron were found on the shore, which they contrived to fashion into pikes. At the moment when their stock of venison was nearly exhausted, they found occasion to employ these weapons against a Polar bear by which they were assailed. The animal, being vanquished and killed after a formidable struggle, supplied for the present all their wants. His flesh was food; his skin, clothing; his entrails, duly prepared, furnished the string which alone had been wanting to complete a bow. With that instrument, they were more than a match for the rein-deer and the Arctic fox, with the spoils of which they filled both their pantry and their wardrobe; and thenceforth they avoided, unless in cases of necessity, the encounter of the bear.

Being destitute of cooking utensils, they were obliged to eat their food nearly raw-dried either by suspension in the smoke

during the long winter, or by exposure to the heat of the sun during the short summer. Yet this regular supply of fresh meat, and, above all, the constant exercise to which necessity prompted, enabled them to preserve their health for six long years, during which they looked in vain for deliverance. In this time they killed ten bears, two hundred and fifty rein-deer, and a multitude of foxes. At last one of them died, when the three survivors sunk into despondency, giving up all hopes of relief, and looking forward to the moment when the last of them would become the prey of the bears.

Suddenly, on the 15th August 1749, having descried a vessel at sea, they lighted fires on the heights, hoisted a flag formed of rein-deer skins, and were at length observed and taken on board the ship, which proved to belong to their native country.

ICELAND, MOUNT HECLA, AND THE GEYSERS. ICELAND is an island somewhat larger than Ireland. It is situated in the Atlantic Ocean, on the confines of the Arctic Circle, amid regions of ice and snow; yet it gives abundant evidence of the volcanic fires which are slumbering beneath its surface.

Dismal tracts of lava, whose gloom is barely relieved by the columns of smoke that are constantly ascending through apertures and fissures in various parts of their surface, traverse the island in almost every direction.

A deep valley, one hundred miles wide, covered with lava, sand, and ashes, and studded with low volcanic cones, stretches across the island from sea to sea. This valley is a tremendous desert, never approached without dread even by the natives—a scene of perpetual conflict between the antagonist powers of fire and frost, without a drop of water or a blade of grass: no living creature is to be seen -not a bird, nor even an insect. The surface is a confused mass of hardened streams of lava, rent by crevices; and rocks piled on rocks, and occasional glaciers, complete the scene of desolation.

At the southern end of this valley, which opens to the sea in a