to be upwards of nine hundred millions of cubic feet. When viewed at a
distance, nothing can be more interesting than the appearance of a
considerable number of these formations, exhibiting an infinite variety
of shape, and requiring no stretch of imagination to convert them into a
series of floating towers, castles, churches, obelisks, and pyramids, or
a snowy range of Alpine heights. No pencil, an observer has remarked,
has ever given any thing like the true effect of an ice berg. In a
picture they are huge, uncouth masses, stuck in the sea; while their
chief beauty and grandeur--their slow stately motion, the whirling of
the snow about their summits, and the fearful crackling of their
parts--they cannot give. The ice of the bergs is compact and solid, or
of a fine green tint verging to blue; and large pieces may be frequently
obtained, equal to the most beautiful crystal in transparency. It is
stated by Scoresby, that with a portion of this ice, of by no means
regular convexity, used as a burning lens, he has frequently burnt wood,
fired gunpowder, melted lead, and lit the sailors' pipes, to their no
small astonishment, the ice itself remaining in the mean while perfectly
fixed and pellucid.

MASSACRE OF THE CREW OF THE ATAHUALPA.

The Atahualpa, of Boston, left that port in August, 1803, bound to the
north-west coast of America, for the purpose of trading with the
natives. She arrived on the coast in the month of January, 1804; and,
after visiting the several islands, and purchasing skins, on the 5th of
June, 1805, weighed anchor from Chockokee, on the north-west coast, and
made sail. On the 8th, arrived at Millbank sound, and came to an anchor
within musket-shot of the village. Soon after her arrival, the chief of
the Indians, by the name of Keite, came off to the ship, with some of
his tribe, and informed the captain that the Caroline, Captain Sturgess,
had sailed from thence ten days before.

On the 11th, the chief came off again, with his tribe, and another tribe
that was there, and traded very briskly till towards night, when
becoming very insolent, they were all turned out of the ship.

On the 13th, Keite and his tribe came on board in the morning, and
seemed much more desirous to trade than before, which Captain Porter was
very glad to see. The chief mate and two of the ship's company, were
then engaged in ripping the main-sail in pieces, on the quarter-deck;
the second mate with two hands was rep