a deep bay or valley trended away to the right, a large portion of
which was filled with the spur of a glacier, whose surface was covered
with _pink snow_! One can imagine with what feelings the two youths
gazed on this beautiful sight. It seemed as if that valley, instead of
forming a portion of the sterile region beyond the Arctic Circle, were
one of the sunniest regions of the south, for a warm glow rested on the
bosom of the snow, as if the sun were shedding upon it his rosiest hues.
A little farther to the north the red snow ceased, or only occurred
here and there in patches, and beyond it there appeared another gorge in
the cliffs within which rose a tall column of rock, so straight and
cylindrical that it seemed to be a production of art. The whole of the
back country was one great rolling distance of glacier, and, wherever a
crevice or gorge in the riven cliffs afforded an opportunity, this ocean
of land-ice sent down spurs into the sea, the extremities of which were
constantly shedding off huge bergs into the water.

"What a scene!" exclaimed Tom Singleton, when he found words to express
his admiration. "I did not think that our world contained so grand a
sight. It surpasses my wildest dreams of fairy-land."

"Fairy-land!" ejaculated Fred, with a slight look of contempt; "do you
know, since I came to this part of the world I've come to the conclusion
that fairy tales are all stuff, and very inferior stuff too! Why, this
reality is a thousand million times grander than anything that was ever
invented. But what surprises me most is the red snow. What can be the
cause of it?"

"I don't know," replied Singleton; "it has long been a matter of dispute
among learned men; but we must examine it for ourselves, so come along."

The remarkable colour of the snow referred to, although a matter of
dispute at the period of the _Dolphin's_ visit to the Arctic Seas, is
generally admitted now to be the result of a curious and extremely
minute vegetable growth, which spreads not only over its surface, but
penetrates into it sometimes to a depth of several feet. The earlier
navigators who discovered it, and first told the astonished world that
the substance which they had been accustomed to associate with the idea
of the purest and most radiant whiteness had been seen by them lying
_red_ upon the ground, attributed the phenomenon to innumerable
multitudes of minute creatures belonging to the order _Radiata_, but the
d