To the northward, the sea was much more open.  Gardiner and Daggett both thought, as they gazed in that direction, that it would be easy enough to take a vessel through the difficulties of the navigation, and that a good run of eight-and-forty hours would carry her quite beyond the crowded ice.  This sight awakened some regrets in the two masters, that they were not then in a condition to depart.

“I am almost sorry that we have made a holiday of the Sunday,” said Daggett, seating himself on a point of rock, to get a little rest after so fatiguing an ascent.  “Every minute of time is precious to men in our situation.”

“Every minute of time is precious to all men, Captain Daggett, in another and a still more important sense, if they did but know it,” put in Stimson, with a zealous freedom, and a Christian’s earnestness.

“I understand you, Stephen, and will not gainsay it.  But a sealin’ v’y’ge is no place, after all, for a man to give himself up to Sabbaths and religion.”

“All places are good, sir, and all hours Sabbaths, when the heart is in the true state.  God is on this naked rock, as he is on the Vineyard; and a thought, or a syllable, in his praise, on this mountain, are as pleasant to him as them that arise from churches and priests.”

“I believe it is, at least, a mistake in policy to give the men no day of rest,” said Roswell, quietly.  “Though not prepared to carry matters as far as my friend Stephen here.  I agree with him entirely in that.”

“And not in believing, sir, that the Spirit of God is on this island?”

“In that too, certainly.  Neither Captain Daggett nor myself will be disposed to dispute either of these two propositions, I think, when we come to reflect on them.  A day of rest would seem to be appointed by nature; and I make no doubt we have filled up all the sooner for having observed one.  Seamen have so many calls on their time which cannot be neglected, that it is unwise in them to increase the number unnecessarily.”

“This is not the spirit, Captain Gar’ner, I’m sorry to say, in which we should keep our day of rest, though it is well that we keep it at all.  I’m no stickler for houses and congregations, though they are good enough in their times and seasons; for every man has a tabernacle in his own heart, if he’s disposed to worship.”

“And if any place on earth can particularly incline one to worship God, surely it must be some such spot as this!” exclaimed Roswell, with a degree of fervour it was not usual for him to exhibit.  “Never in my life have my eyes seen a sight as remarkable and as glorious as this!”

Well might our young mariner thus exclaim.  The day was fine for the region, but marked by the caprice and changeful light of high latitudes.  There was mist in places, and flurries of snow were to be seen to the southward, while the ocean to the northward of the group was glittering under the brightness of an unclouded sun.  It was the mixed character of this scene that rendered it so peculiar, while its grandeur, sublimity, and even beauty, were found in its vastness, its noble though wild accessories, its frozen and floating mountains, glowing in prismatic light, and the play of summer on the features of an antarctic view.