magnificence and beauty. they seemed to exhale a spell in that northern latitude that drew us to them, pressed close upon the gunwales of our ship, in wondering silence.
The weathering, and subaerial erosion here was most pronounced—and the range seemed clearly older than the east-coast rocks. The sides of the mountains plunged with unhesitating precipitancy into the water. The beds composing them had variable inclinations. Still we drew nearer and closer—with wonderful displays of red rock disintegrating into rubble, and long sweeping and steep surfaces of comminuted stone. The higher cells, cirques or valleys in the mountains were floored with snow, and occasional glacial patches were uncertainly described. At a distance these mountains looked like a serrated range on a single base of extension, but nearer they were seen to be in ranks thrown up in most effective hummocky confusion.
And now a thousand lights play over them, and now they gleam with one consentaneous and single glory, like a pale and myriad facetted ruby. New features come into view on every side, at each new inclination of the ship: a rainbow stands upright piercing the zenith,
