At twelve o’clock we went below, and had just got through dinner, when
the cook put his head down the scuttle and told us to come on deck and
see the finest sight we had ever seen. “Where away, Doctor?” asked the
first man who was up. “On the larboard bow.” And there lay, floating in
the ocean, several miles off, an immense, irregular mass, its top and
points covered with snow, and its centre of a deep indigo color. 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
crackling 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 it the character of true
sublimity.
The main body of the mass was, as I have said, of an indigo color, its
base incrusted with frozen foam; and as it grew thin and transparent
towards the edges and top, its color shaded off from a deep blue to the
whiteness of snow. It seemed to be drifting slowly towards the north, so
that we kept away and avoided it.
It was in sight all the afternoon; and when we got to leeward of it the
wind died away, so that we lay to, quite near it for the greater part of
the night. Unfortunately, there was no moon, but it was a clear night,
and we could plainly mark the long, regular heaving of the stupendous
mass, as its edges moved slowly against the stars, now revealing them,
and now shutting them in. Several times in our watch loud cracks were
heard, and several pieces fell down, plunging heavily into the sea.
Towards morning a strong breeze sprang up, and we sailed away, and left
it astern. At daylight it was out of sight.
--RICHARD HENRY DANA.
* * * * *
To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,
To throw a perfume on the violet,
To smooth the ice, or add another hue
Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light
To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,
Is wasteful, and ridiculous excess.--SHAKESPEARE.