Among the Esquimaux; or, Adventures under the Arctic Circle

em before, as Captain McAlpine explained, for, as you well know, those mountains of ice often cross the path of the Atlantic steamers, and more than once have endangered our great ocean greyhound

onged-for curiosity was in sight at last. As he spoke, he pointed with his hand to the n

aid Rob, "that loo

, lowering his instrument, and turning toward the younger

white cloud in the horizo

, boys; now take a squint at tha

ent and had hardly taken

rg sure enough! Is

he captain added: "Turn the

r!" added the d

who was using his eyes as best he could; "I thought

ed, handing the glass to his friend, whos

the course of a half-hour, the vast masses of ic

ng toward us, or we are go

lpine; "we shall pass withi

we run

smiled grimly,

ere was no moon that night, and when the iceberg, half as big as a whole town, loomed up in the dark

st interesting part of the story,

would have perished with cold had not an Esquimau fisherman, named Docak, seen us. We were nearer the mainland than we dared hope, and he came out in his kayak and took us off. He helped us to make our wa

s in these waters, e

he commander; "and you know that the most constant watchfulness on the part of the great

owering, and awful, that stream down from the far North and sail in all their sublime grandeur ste

the bow of a steamboat, but the reason is simple. Nearly seven-eighths of an iceberg is under water, extending so far down that most of the bulk is often

estward, but it was much smaller than the other two, though more unique and beautiful. It looked for all the world like a grand cathedral, whose tapering spire towered fully two hundred feet in a

or could fancy all kinds of resemblances, but the "cold fact" remained that they were simply

orth, as they are called, they are sometimes two or three years i

rom the surface to the ground. Snow falls, there may be a little rain during the moderate season, then snow comes again, and all the time the water beneath is freezing more and more solid. Gravi

oes it tak

the pressure is gradual as well as resistless, it may move only a

yed him naturally led him to seek to please them so far as he could do so consistent with his duty. He caused the course of t

full time for its appalling grandeur to grow upon the senses of the youths, who stood minute after minute

the sight some attention, but it could not impress them

ly toward it. It was probably two-thirds the size of the first, and, instead

udying it for some moments, "that the centre of

Fred, "for you don't know what shape they hav

oined the little party at the invita

y and take a flop; I shouldn't be

An iceberg performing a handspring would be something of the same order, but a hundred thousand times more extensive.

in Fred, in su

at first, but rapidly increasing until it dived beneath the waves like some enormous mass of matter cast off by a planet in its flight through space. As it disappeared, two-fold as much bulk came

the deep, before it could regain its full equilibrium. Then, as the spectators looked, behold! where was one of those mountains of ice they

stirred than those of any one else; "she's good for two or three thousan

d take place, J

o ripping, tearing, and smashing, and the way that berg would beh

den thought had come to him. Laying his

ptain won't let us