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The view of the towering snowy mountains of
Iceland, of which we had just a glimpse, was
exceedingly tantalizing, the wind compelling us
to stand out to se a ; but we kept our eyes fixed
on them, until they were lost to the sight as we
stood away from the land. It blew very hard the
whole dav, and we thought ourselves fortunate iu
escaping the fate of a trading vessel, laden with a
cargo of salt, which we had seen her taking on board
at Liverpool: she was driven on shore during the
gale at Grindevik. This unfortunate trader had
got so far to the ivestward as Cape Reikianws,
but could not double i t ; the crew were saved, but
the cargo o was lost : she ivas a Danish merchant
brig. It seems, as we afterwards ascertained,
that she was unable to ivork off the coast, and
had, therefore, anchored in the small bay where she
went ashore. We continued to stand away to the
south-west, till we had got a sufficient offing, when
we tacked and made for the land.
The sun set beautifully, and the moon rose
equally so ; the clearness of the atmosphere being
ver•y' remarkable. We thougOht we saw the land at
a great distance from it, and although we afterwards
discovered that they ivere only clouds, it was
difficult to undeceive ourselves of the idea of their
being real rocks rising out of the water, some to
an enormous height, and all continually varying in
their shape ; and yet our position on the chart ought
to have satisfied us that there could not possibly
be any land near where we were. The deception
was greater, from the circumstance of there being,
as it were, two sets of clouds, one of which, apparently
passing over the others, looked like the
clouds skimming the summits of the hills.
On the 26th the wind still was foul and
blowing fresh, and continued so during the night.
As any little incident breaks the monotony of a
voyage, we were amused to-day by a shoal of porpoises,
which played for a considerable time about
the bows of our vessel. The sailors endeavoured
to harpoon some of them, but were not sufficiently
expert. On the 2 /th we were enveloped the whole
day in a thick fog, which prevented us from seeing
a ship’s length before u s ; but as we knew that Ave
were still some distance from the land, and that
there Avas not much fear of running foul of a vessel
in these parts, not having seen a single sail since we
parted company Avith the Spaniards, we made no
hesitation in standing on our course till night, when
as Ave thought we were now approaching the land,
and the fog continuing, Ave deemed it prudent to
lay-to. The distance we had run since tacking,
the incredible number of birds, chiefly gannets,
which were flying about, and the appearance of
the water, satisfied us that Ave could not be far off;
and althoughAve Avere not apprehensive of danger, it
was still no very pleasant situation to be placed in—
had enough on a coast Avell known, but still AVorse