Hudson Bay | Page 8

his hand on the shores of the mighty St.
Lawrence, and renewed a friendship which afforded me the greatest
pleasure I enjoyed in the country, and which, I trust, neither time nor
distance will ever lessen or destroy.
We spent the evening delightfully, the more so that we were not likely
to have such an opportunity again, as the Prince of Wales would shortly
part company from us, and direct her course to Moose Factory, in
James Bay, while we should proceed across Hudson Bay to York
Factory. We left the ship just as a few cats-paws on the surface of the
water gave indications of a coming breeze.
Ice now began to surround us in all directions; and soon after this I saw,
for the first time, that monster of the Polar Seas, an iceberg. It was a
noble sight. We passed quite close, and had a fine opportunity of
observing it. Though not so large as they are frequently seen, it was
beautifully and fantastically formed. High peaks rose from it on various
places, and down its sides streams of water and miniature cataracts

flowed in torrents. The whole mass was of a delicate greenish-white
colour, and its lofty pinnacles sparkled in the moonbeams as it floated
past, bending majestically in the swell of the ocean. About this time,
too, we met numerous fields and floes of ice, to get through which we
often experienced considerable difficulty.
My favourite amusement, as we thus threaded our way through the ice,
was to ascend to the royal-yard, and there to sit and cogitate whilst
gazing on the most beautiful and romantic scenes.
It is impossible to convey a correct idea of the beauty, the magnificence,
of some of the scenes through which we passed. Sometimes thousands
of the most grotesque, fanciful, and beautiful icebergs and icefields
surrounded us on all sides, intersected by numerous serpentine canals,
which glittered in the sun (for the weather was fine nearly all the time
we were in the straits), like threads of silver twining round ruined
palaces of crystal. The masses assumed every variety of form and size;
and many of them bore such a striking resemblance to cathedrals,
churches, columns, arches, and spires, that I could almost fancy we had
been transported to one of the floating cities of Fairyland. The rapid
motion, too, of our ship, in what appeared a dead calm, added much to
the magical effect of the scene. A light but steady breeze urged her
along with considerable velocity through a maze of ponds and canals,
which, from the immense quantity of ice that surrounded them, were
calm and unruffled as the surface of a mill-pond.
Not a sound disturbed the delightful stillness of nature, save the gentle
rippling of the vessel's bow as she sped on her way, or the occasional
puffing of a lazy whale, awakened from a nap by our unceremonious
intrusion on his domains. Now and then, however, my reveries were
interrupted by the ship coming into sudden contact with huge lumps of
ice. This happened occasionally when we arrived at the termination of
one of those natural canals through which we passed, and found it
necessary to force our way into the next. These concussions were
occasionally very severe--so much so, at times, as to make the ship's
bell ring; but we heeded this little, as the vessel was provided with huge
blocks of timber on her bows, called ice-pieces, and was, besides, built

expressly for sailing in the northern seas. It only became annoying at
meal-times, when a spoonful of soup would sometimes make a little
private excursion of its own over the shoulder of the owner instead of
into his mouth.
As we proceeded, the ice became more closely packed, and at last
compelled us to bore through it. The ship, however, was never
altogether arrested, though often much retarded. I recollect, while thus
surrounded, filling a bucket with water from a pool on the ice, to see
whether it was fresh or not, as I had been rather sceptical upon this
point. It was excellent, and might almost compete with the water from
the famous spring of Crawley. In a few days we got out of the ice
altogether; and in this, as the ships are frequently detained for weeks in
the straits, we considered ourselves very fortunate.
We all experienced at this time a severe disappointment in the
non-appearance of the Esquimaux from the coast. The captain said they
would be sure to come off to us, as they had always been in the habit of
doing so, for the purpose of exchanging ivory and oil for saws, files,
needles, etcetera, a large chestful of which is put on board annually for
this purpose. The ivory usually procured from them is walrus