_Tuesday, October 10th_.--In the early morning, when we resumed our
voyage, the weather was still fine; but a few light clouds were here
and there visible, and an icy wind, sweeping down from the mountains,
made it appear very cold, though the thermometer--which averages, I
think, 40 deg. to 50 deg. all the year round--was not really low. The line of
perpetual snow commences here at an elevation of from 2,500 to 3,500
feet only, which adds greatly to the beauty of the scene; and as it is
now early spring the snow is still unmelted, 500 feet, and even less,
from the shore. The stupendous glaciers run right down into the sea,
and immense masses of ice, sometimes larger than a ship, are
continually breaking off, with a noise like thunder, and falling into
the water, sending huge waves across to the opposite shore, and
sometimes completely blocking up the channels. Some of these glaciers,
composed entirely of blue and green ice and the purest snow, are
fifteen and twenty miles in length. They are by far the finest we
have, any of us, ever seen; and even those of Norway and Switzerland
sink into comparative insignificance beside them. The mountains here
are not so high as those of Europe, but they really appear more lofty,
as their entire surface, from the water's edge to the extreme summit,
is clearly visible.
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