New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-05-12

1t made me laugh. As waded through the pgmy
woods running my fingers hroueh the iof'ier tops az
would run them through the hair OF curly heiued
child and s,epuipc over bills and daes OF green forest
was highly amused both at the little woodlands ana
the moral Of the thing. Cutting an arihlui o, 'ne
sweet-scented branches and thinking OF inc children
at home as | dinted the NOISY plpcnShions orent@
yorsted-work all over the ground hasened 10 regain
nv coat and get down TO the fshermaus The painter
soon came in when we sat down to an excellent sup
per of tea and fried salmon and presently set sail by
moonlight.
OF the origin and gradual formation of icebergs
the reader will probably gain new idea from
the following passages, which, in fact, embody
the most recent scientific theories on the subject
in an intensely imaginative form.
The story Of an iceberg yes, indeed; and most
wonderful tale would II be, could il be truihfuy WITT
ten. 1t would run up into, and become lost IN me
story Of the great GLACIERS Of Greenland; the ran OF
which science itself Las not learned profoundly us IL
has penetrated the mysteries Of the Alpine glaciers
There are valleys reaching from TIE interior 10 the
coast filed with glaciers of great depth and breadth,
which move forward with an lmperceputle 1uS Ieeu-
ler motion. The continent az one might call Grten-
land does not shed the bulk of lie central waters Ia
uiO rivers but discharges them 10 the ocean ~ soi,
crystalline, sowly-prOgIe stieans lhey now vi
rather march, with rresislible mighty force, anu I-
resoundng footsteps crossing the shore line, perpet
nal procession Of bloklke maFses HAT or diyersiied
with bill and hollow the top advancing upon the
sea until too deeply immersed longer 10 resl' .ne
buoyaut power aud pressure OF the surrounding waters,
when they break upward and float suspended IN the
yas oceanic abyss The van Of the glacial host pre-
Viously marked of by oeures into raj Nv rusheS from
the too close embrace Of It's new element, and wheels
away, an iceberg-tbe plistenng Planet OF the sea,
whose mazv tortuous orbit can calculate but linn
who maps The uneeen currents of the main.
When and where, on the lengthy Greenland coast,
did this huge block make the grand exeh nge oil ele
mentB Which, if any OF these great buildings hot
l. hon A. xxlti
Neotune followed or preceded II What have been
its solemn rounds Through what Winters has II
slept and caught the SHOWS upon the folds OF us scuip
tured dapeIiesl How many Summers has II oared
its spo,ess bosom 10 the aud rains What nights
Of aurol splendors have gassed their celestial cou-
tenance in lis shining mirror What baths and vases
Of blue water have opened their pure depths 10 moon
and stars What torrents and cascades have muir
INJURED in its CLASSY cbasms, crystal grottoes Alpine
dels And who shall count its battles with the
waves and tempests, when with the surf about its
ehoulders and among its locks and the clouds around
its brow il stood far up from the unsoundeo valleys oil
ocean tiptOe on the mountain topi'
In the deGles ano gorges Of the Arctic coast are pro-
dipious accumulaOns Of icethe congeation OF Snail
streams flowing from the adjacent monnains-tbe el-
ciers Of the coas range IN short. These gradually en-
croach upon and overhang the sea- ana are eonilnu-
ally breaking of, from the undermining oil the waves
which beat at their base Such IL the del ia OF water,
that the huges avalanche Of ice can fall with safely 10
itself, aud feat away.
When, and ia what bay or inlet, may this Great
Northern have been launched Out Of what gloomy
ford may have rolled the bllows after its ICY hseb-
ngs were loosed, and it slid with the thunder OF an
earthquake down its slippery ways, and plunged INTO
the black deepi
Until science have her beaten pathway over polar
waves and hills, and measure the r1iL-iaS ana the
snow-fa and the freezings Of the one and the com
pactings Of the other the story Of the glacier aud the
iceberg in their native Land and seas, will be left in
rart TO the magnaiiUna faculty, afer all, that VIII
ever deal with these wonderful ICES about "a satitfac
torily as the faculty that judges according TO the
sense as Bishop Leighton calls the mere scienilhc lac
ulty The truth Of this is illustrated by the very ice
befps about MS. Emphaticully as they speak to the
naturalist with his various instrumeuiate'. they
sneak al the same moment with marvellous eloquenoe
to the poet and tie painter There are forces motions
end forms voices beauties, aud a sentiment, which
escape the touch Of science, and are scarcely caught
by the subtle poetic mind. 1ocbergs 10 the imaglna-
tive soul Lave q kiLd Of individuality and life
They startle, fighten, awei they asouisb, excite,
anuse delight, aud fascnaie clouds, mountains, and
structures angels demons, animals and men spring 10
the view of the bebolder. they are favoiie pay
ground Of the Ines surfaces and shapes OF the whole
world tie heavens above the earth and the waters un-
der Of their sounds, notions aud coors ulso Ihese
arc the poets and the painters fields, than they
are the fields OF tue naturalist, much az they arc
his. DO not there fifty beTgs, ia sight from any crag
frownng in its iron strength above the surf speak more
a living language to the creative than 10 the menstrual
faculty Let US see.
They have daily experience, and current history
more remarkable Low than ever. Whatever nay have
been the wonders Of their conception birth and GROWTH
however lengthy and devious their voyage, they are
present in tbese strange seas In these ted waters and
soft arr TO Undergo tler last fatal changes, and die
solve forever Into their final tomb. There are fifty
icebergs less. Apparently elm lar in appear
ance vet each differs widely from all others. Exhibit
ing similar phenomena, Yet each has complications,
movements sounds and wonders OF it's own. Ii we
choose though to add the performances OF to-day,
those If yesterday and tomorrow, we shall hud that
the experience Of any berg closely resembles that
fan ircle nf aud
ponds with the circle OF nearly every other berg, and
80 of all together differing merely In the matter OF
timeas to heH tie changes take place. The deeeIp-
ton upon which will venture, and Which might be
CLEANED from the foregoing pages, 49, therefore, strictly
true except that the phases aud accidents are supposed
to occur in rapid succession. In word, What You
would behold in all OF these fifty within twentyfou
hours You to fancy OF one IN the course oil all alter
noon. -
have before me, in my minds eye, the Windsor
Castle berg fresh from tie NORTH and the Great Castle
berg oil Belle lsle water, which 1t entered early last
MAY and as large at the time of its arrival both Of
them at present combined. And 60 am looking at
veritaLle berg Of Cape St. LOUIE small, though, in
comparison with the berg Of Cape ST. Francis, vast
cathedral OF dazzling white ice, with a front of $50
feet perpendicular from the sea- yi-ted by the Bishop
OF Newfoundland in the summer OF 1875.
Twill describe, first the figure Of the berg lisa
bnation oAlp CASTLE mosque Parthen and cathedral.
1t has peaks and slopes cs crags, ohasns and cav
erng; lakes streams and waterfalls. IL has towers,
battlements and portals 1t has mibarets, domes and
steepes; roofs and gables; bausrades aud balcoIies
fronts sides and interiors; doors, windows and porcbes
steps and entrspces columns pilasters, capitals and
enablatures; freze. architraye and cornce arches,
cloisers ncbes statuary and counters decoratonsi
fuliugs corrugaons, carvings, panels OF CLASSY polish
and ia the rough; Greek, Roman, GOtmc, Saraeenlc
Pagan, Savage Ii is crested with blades and needles;
heaped here and there with ruins blocks bowldes
splinteed and cruubled MASSES This preGipice has q
fresh sharp fractures yonoes 'front.' with ltd expanSe of