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小说: letters from high latitudes 字数: 每页4000字

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celand lay leagues away on our starboard quarter; faintly swimming through the haze; up overhead blazed the white sun; and below glittered the level sea; like a pale blue disc netted in silver lace。 I seldom remember a brighter day; the thermometer was at 72 degrees; and it really felt more as if we were crossing the line than entering the frigid zone。

Animated by that joyous inspiration which induces them to make a fete of everything; the French officers; it appeared; wished to organize a kind of carnival to inaugurate their arrival in Arctic waters; and by means of a piece of chalk and a huge black board displayed from the hurricane…deck of the 〃Reine Hortense;〃 an inquiry was made as to what suggestion I might have to offer in furtherance of this laudable object。 With that poverty of invention and love of spirits which characterise my nation; I am obliged to confess that; after deep reflection; I was only able to answer; 〃Grog。〃 But seeing an extra flag or two was being run up at each masthead of the Frenchman; the lucky idea occurred to me to dress the 〃Foam〃 in all her colours。  The schooner's toilette accomplished; I went on board the 〃Reine Hortense;〃 and you cannot imagine anything more fragile; graceful; or coquettish; than her appearance from the deck of the corvette;as she curtsied and swayed herself on the bosom of the almost imperceptible swell; or flirted up the water with her curving bows。 She really looked like a living little lady。

But from all such complacent reveries I was soon awakened by the sound of a deep voice; proceeding apparently from the very bottom of the sea; which hailed the ship in the most authoritative manner; and imperiously demanded her name; where she was going; whom she carried; and whence she came: to all which questions; a young lieutenant; standing with his hat off at the gangway; politely responded。  Apparently satisfied on these points; our invisible interlocutor then announced his intention of coming on board。 All the officers of the ship collected on the poop to receive him。

In a few seconds more; amid the din of the most unearthly music; and surrounded by a bevy of hideous monsters; a white…bearded; spectacled personage…clad in bear…skin; with a cocked hat over his left ear…presented himself in the gangway; and handing to the officers of the watch an enormous board; on which was written

   〃LE PERE ARCTIQUE;〃

by way of visiting card; proceeded to walk aft; and take the sun's altitude with what; as far as I could make out; seemed to be a plumber's wooden triangle。 This preliminary operation having been completed; there then began a regular riot all over the ship。 The yards were suddenly manned with red devils; black monkeys; and every kind of grotesque monster; while the whole ship's company; officers and men promiscuously mingled; danced the cancan upon deck。 In order that the warmth of the day should not make us forget that we had arrived in his dominions; the Arctic father had stationed certain of his familiars in the tops; who at stated intervals flung down showers of hard peas; as typical of hail; while the powdering of each other's faces with handfuls of flour could not fail to remind everybody on board that we had reached the latitude of snow。  At the commencement of this noisy festival I found myself standing on the hurricane deck; next to; one of the grave savants attached to the expedition; who seemed to contem…plate the antics that were being played at his feet with that sad smile of indulgence with which Wisdom sometimes deigns to commiserate the gaiety of Folly。 Suddenly he disappeared from beside me; and the next that I saw or heard of himhe was hard at work pirouetting on the deck below with a red…tailed demon; and exhibiting in his steps a 〃verve〃 and a graceful audacity which at Paris would have certainly obtained for him the honours of expulsion at the hands of the municipal authorities。 The entertainment of the day concluded with a discourse delivered out of a wind…sail by the chaplain attached to the person of the Pere Arctique; which was afterwards washed down by a cauldron full of grog; served out in bumpers to the several actors in this unwonted ceremonial。 As the Prince had been good enough to invite us to dinner; instead of returning to the schooner I spent the intermediate hour in pacing the quarter…deck with Baron de la Ronciere;the naval commander entrusted with the charge of the expedition。 Like all the smartest officers in the French navy; he speaks English beautifully; and I shall ever remember with gratitude the cordiality with which he welcomed me on board his ship; and the thoughtful consideration of his arrangements for the little schooner which he had taken in tow。 At five o'clock dinner was announced; and I question if so sumptuous a banquet has ever been served up before in that outlandish part of the world; embellished as it was by selections from the best operas played by the corps d'orchestre which had accompanied the Prince from Paris。 During the pauses of the music the conversation naturally turned on the strange lands we were about to visit; and the best mode of spifflicating the white bears who were probably already shaking in their snow shoes: but alas! while we were in the very act of exulting in our supremacy over these new domains; the stiffened finger of the Ice king was tracing in frozen characters a 〃Mene; mene; tekel upharsin〃 on the plate glass of the cabin windows。 During the last half…hour the thermometer had been gradually falling; until it was nearly down to 32 degrees; a dense penetrating fog enveloped both the vessels(the 〃Saxon〃 had long since dropped out of sight); flakes of snow began floating slowly down; and a gelid breeze from the north…west told too plainly that we had reached the frontiers of the solid ice; though we were still a good hundred miles distant from the American shore。  Although at any other time the terrible climate we had dived into would have been very depressing; under present circumstances I think the change rather tended to raise our spirits; perhaps because the idea of fog and ice in the month of June seemed so completely to uncockneyfy us。 At all events there was no doubt now we had got into les mers glaciales; as our French friends called them; and; whatever else might be in store for us; there was sure henceforth to be no lack of novelty and excitement。

By this time it was already well on in the evening; so having agreed with Monsieur de la Ronciere on a code of signals in case of fogs; and that a jack hoisted at the mizen of the 〃Reine Hortense;〃 or at the fore of the schooner; should be an intimation of a desire of one or other to cast off; we got into the boat and were dropped down alongside our own ship。 Ever since leaving Iceland the steamer had been heading east…north…east by compass; but during the whole of the ensuing night she shaped a south…east course; the thick mist rendering it unwise to stand on any longer in the direction of the banquise; as they call the outer edge of the belt that hems in Eastern Greenland。 About three A。M。  it cleared up a little。 By breakfast time the sun re…appeared; and we could see five or six miles ahead of the vessel。 It was shortly after this; that as I was standing in the main rigging peering out over the smooth blue surface of the sea; a white twinkling point of light suddenly caught my eye about a couple of miles off on the port bow; which a telescope soon resolved into a solitary isle of ice; dancing and dipping in the sunlight。 As you may suppose; the news brought everybody upon deck; and when almost immediately afterwards a string of other pieces; glittering like a diamond necklace; hove in sight; the excitement was extreme。

Here at all events was honest blue saltwater frozen solid; and when; as we proceeded; the scattered fragments thickened; and passed like silver argosies on either hand; until at last we found oumelves enveloped in an innumerable fleet of bergs;it seemed as if we could never be weary of admiring a sight so strange and beautiful。 It was rather in form and colour than in size that these ice islets were remarkable; anything approaching to a real iceberg we neither saw; nor are we likely to see。 In fact; the lofty ice mountains that wander like vagrant islands along the coast of America; seldom or never come to the eastward or northward of Cape Farewell。 They consist of land ice; and are all generated among bays and straits within Baffin's Bay; and first enter the Atlantic a good deal to the southward of Iceland; whereas the Polar ice; among which we have been knocking about; is field ice; andexcept when packed one ledge above the other; by great pressureis comparatively flat。 I do not think I saw any pieces that were piled up higher than thirty or thirty…five feet above the sea…level; although at a little distance through the mist they may have loomed much loftier。

In quaintness of form; and in brilliancy of colours; these wonderful masses surpassed everything I had imagined; and we found endless amusement in watching their fantastic procession。

At one time it was a knight on horseback; clad in sapphire mail; a white plume above his casque。 Or a cathedral window with shafts of chrysophras; new powdered by a snow…sto

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