, 1890-12-25
THE ARCTIC ACROBATS
Antics of Huge Ioebergs in
Northern Waters
WONDERLAND OF THE WORLD
Strange Scenes Witnessed When
Mountains of Frozen Waters
Split in Two,

ANo otlt w iio mas tNtl bttlI ~ III.
stately iceberg on Its Solemn south.
ward march, would ever credit
these floating islands Of ice with un.
digniiied capers and erratic move.
ments, so impressive is the alr OF
awful stiffness and almost solemn
solidity that surrounds these colossal
children of cold climates. Still "A
great mountain of ice will some.
times vary its monotonous move.
men,s Of steady drifting by turning
somersaults and double somersaults
until it looks liko some huge hyper.
borean hippopotamus, with skin oil
snow-likc whiteness, wallowinu
around in the waters Of the North
ern sea.
have seen but one such over.
turning of these moving noun tains
of marble, and surely 1t looked as IL
the great waters of the deep were
breaking up" and that the end OF
all things had come, says Frederick
Schwatka, tho great arctic explorer,
In the Philadelphia Press. Great
green waves went laundering by as
IL hurricane might have been
bowling for hours across the sea
that but few moments before had
been rs motionless as q pond. Fly
ing flecks of foam dashed down from
dizzy heights above, and its slippery
sides were almost covered with cas-.
cades formed from the waters that
had been lifted up by the rapidly
overturning berg.
The first intiination we had of the
coming on of the convulsion was a
dull shock from under the water
against our ships side, us IL a sub
marine blast had been exploded a
shock very much like that given
when the great He'll Gate mine in
New York harbor was sprung, and
moment aftcrward huge rising
of the sea near one side of the Ice
berg was apparent, and q vast lake
of uplifted waters broke snow
white mass of Ice that had been de-
tached from the huge crystal
mountain far down in the oceans
! to the surface with n swiftness that
Ftttiltu w NV ~ WI out Ol lnB
sea and kept II spinning and splash
Ing for a full five minutes afterwurd
The release of this portion from, its
frozen letters far below had dis.
turbed the ''stable equilibriumn-as
the learned scientists would say--of
the greater and parent berg, and a
moment afterward 1t began its stu.
pendous swaylng, as II some earth
quake were influencing IL from be-
meath, until I'm one of Its colossal
careenpgs II fell over and seemed to
bury itself In mass OF milk-like
foam, as II n thousand demons were
drowning In the lashed waters OF the
green sea, aud that sent tremendous
tidal waves tearing across the depths
that would have engulfed the Great
Eastern had she been near. IL sank
for second only, and then rapidly
reappeared with II creamy crest that
In shallow sheets of white poured
down the perpendicular sides of tho
mighty glacial giant that was trying
so hard To find a quiet rest In his
watery bed.
1t clearly bchooves the navigator
OF the Northern seas not to APP
proach too near these Arctic acrobals
when they are feeling in their best
moods for n little quiet fun of their
own. And they do give them
wide berth, too, when they are sail
Ing In these Icy seas, not only fear
Ing the frlghtful waves which they
set In motion when they turn salt
water somersault, but If they APP
proach directly alongside, one of the
ascending pieces of Ice may pop up
from below and crush in the bottom
of the big boat, which may then
start for the bottom as fast as the
piece OF Ice had come to the top.
So between the little icebergs pop
ping up from the water below and
falling down from the sides above,
coupled with II chance of the colos-
sts of them all turning n hyperion
can handspring that fairly sets tho
old ocean frantic with excitement,
and not forgetting the twisting tor.
nadoes that the berg brings down to
its base, makes IL altogether an un-
certain undertaking to have polar
picnic too near one of these crystal
mountains.
| have spoken of them rs little Ice
bergs, aud they are so in comparison
with the parent berg from which
they sprang, although actually some
of them are found occasionally as big
~ the largest blocks of buildings in
New York city or Chicago. No
wonder Is II, then, II n piece of ice Us
big tho New York city postofiice or
the capitol at Washington or the
Auditorium building at Chicago
should break oil from an ice mount
ain, however large, that it might
destroy the floating equilibrium OF
IL and set II to turning and spinning
and lashing and splashing the water
until 1t finally settled to state OF
rest.
But of all the curious capers cut
by these colossal masses Of Ice none
Is more singular, not even their
somersaults, than one saw
being performed in the en-
trance to Hudson strait. A furi-
Gus gale was raging that was
driving drifting Ice pack before II
as If II were heard Of frightened
animals. The great fiat fields and
foes Of Ice were speeding eastward
before the whistling wind almost as
fast as our snug little ship, for we
were under double-reefed sails, so
furious was the storm. Looming
up out of tho drifting gusts aud
whirling eddies of the snow, bearing
westward, came the pearly sails OF
an Arctic ship-a mighty iceberg
that with superb serenity In the