The depth was not great nor the declivity sharp; but the surface was formed of blocks of ice, like the collections of big stones you sometimes encounter on the sides of mountains near the base; and I had again and again to fetch a compass so as to gain a smaller block down which to drop, till I was close to the vessel, and here the snow had piled and frozen into a smooth face.
"The Frozen Pirate"
W. Clark Russell
These points I recollect; likewise the maddening and maddened motion of our vessel, sliding towards it down one midnight declivity to another.
"The Frozen Pirate"
W. Clark Russell
He had been sitting on the ground on the other side of the declivity, and had been watching their manoeuvres for some time.
"Two Little Confederates"
Thomas Nelson Page