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BOS) ii ig | TRAVELS
legs, for the {pace of eight or ten yards This Genet Ante of
travelling with a f{kating horfe, upon an element where we could
count the fifhes under the fledge and under the horfe’s feet, was
not very amufing to us, though we were already accuftomed to a
road of ice. I was at fome pains to fatisfy myfelf as to the reafon
why the ice was fo clear and pellucid in particular parts of the river
only; and I think I difcovered it in the united action of the folar
rays and of the wind. The wind having fwept away the fnow
and cleared the furface of the ice, the fun, at the end of March and
beginning of April, having acquired confiderable force, had melted
and rendered {mooth the furface, which at firft is always fomewhat
rough and uneven ; this being frozen during the night, formed a
mirror of the moft perfect polifh. The luftre of the ice on this
river is very remarkable; had it not been for the little fhining
and perpendicular fiffures, which fhewed the diameter of the ice’s
thicknefs, it would have been utterly impoffible for us to diftin-
guith it from the water below. Where the river happened to be
of a profound depth, we could perceive our vaft diftance from the
bottom only by an indiftiné greenifh colour: the reflection that
we were fufpended over fuch an aby{fs made us fhudder. Under
this terrifying impreffion, the vaft depth of the river, and dazzled
by the extraordinary tranfparency and brilliancy of the ice, we
crept along the furface, and felt inclined to fhut our eyes, or
turn away our heads, that we might be lefs fenfible of our danger.
But when the river happened to be only a yard or two deep, we
were amufed to be able to count the pebbles at the bottom of
the water, and to frighten the fifhes with our fect. |
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