THE WORLD OF ICE. 107

“I say, I’m half inclined to believe that yon is no
work of nature, but a monument set up to attract the
attention of ships. Don’t you think so ?”

Singleton regarded the object in question for some
time. “TI don’t think so, Fred; it is larger than you
suppose, for the fog-bank deceives us. But let us go
and see; it cannot be far off”

As they drew near to the tall rock, Fred’s hopes
began to fade, and soon were utterly quenched by the
fog clearing away, and showing that the column was
indeed of nature’s own constructing. It was a single,
solitary shaft of green limestone, which stood on the
brink of a deep ravine, and was marked by the slaty
limestone that once encased it. The length of the
column was apparently about five hundred feet, and
the pedestal of sandstone on which it stood was itself
upwards of two hundred feet high.

This magnificent column seemed the flag-staff of a
gigantic crystal fortress, which was suddenly revealed
by the clearing away of the foo-bank to the north.
It was the face of the great glacier of the interior,
which here presented an unbroken perpendicular
front—a sweep of solid glassy wall, which rose three
hundred feet above the water-level, with an unknown
depth below it. The sun glittered on the crags and
peaks and battlements of this ice fortress, as if the
mysterious inhabitants of the Far North had lit up
their fires and planted their artillery to resist further
invasion.

The effect upon the minds of the two youths, who