. Arctic researches, and life among the Esquimaux;. ike Bunkers HillMonument, only much higher. A few moments before, I hadnoticed these bergs as mere pigmies. Now the pigmies had be-come giants! Nature on a spree had given to mere snowballson the horizon all the beauty and symmetry of Bunkers HillMonument, running high up, in alabaster columns, to prop theazure sky! Soon the moon came rolling up; and what a phase or face itshowed, with its wofully distorted countenance! I took my Nau-tical Almanac for the year (1860), and there found, August 1st,the sign for Full Moon ! The large round circle
. Arctic researches, and life among the Esquimaux;. ike Bunkers HillMonument, only much higher. A few moments before, I hadnoticed these bergs as mere pigmies. Now the pigmies had be-come giants! Nature on a spree had given to mere snowballson the horizon all the beauty and symmetry of Bunkers HillMonument, running high up, in alabaster columns, to prop theazure sky! Soon the moon came rolling up; and what a phase or face itshowed, with its wofully distorted countenance! I took my Nau-tical Almanac for the year (1860), and there found, August 1st,the sign for Full Moon ! The large round circle stared me inthe face. There could be no mistake. A moon as big and roundas a cart-wheel—as we boys used to say—should be the aspectof fair Luna in the heavens this night. But here was the risingmoon up to time, yet where was the full moon? The moon asit ought to be was a moon somewhere else, not here; for, as itascended above the horizon, its lower limb was like a crushed as a drunkards face—fiery-red, and swollen out to its utmost. DISTORTED HOUS. 88 ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. limit of expansion ! Sketching as it then appeared, the precedingmay give the idea, so unnatural was the goddess as she arose fromher ocean bed to-night. But this, however, did not last long. Afew moments sufficed to carry her upward in her regal course be-yond the influence of Nature on a spree, and a short time after-ward, as I looked again, I found How calmly gliding through the dark blue sky,The midnight moon ascends. August 6th. Going on deck this morning, found Nature againon a spree. I have been observing its working for two hours. Iwill record some of its phenomena. When I first observed the unnatural appearance of the bergs,sea, and islands toward the southwest, the morning sun was tendegrees high, and shining brightly. The barometer then inches, the thermometer 41°, wind blowing moderately fromsouthwest. Looking to windward, I saw the top of a distant berg;then all
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjecteskimos, bookyear1865
