96 RISE OF WATER. [January, 



my firm conviction that no further movement in this 

 direction will again be attempted by Great Britain, it is 

 needless for me to dwell further on the means I would 

 propose. 



During my examination of the in-shore fissures today 

 my attention was excited by noticing some of the fissure 

 edges raised much above their natural level, indeed be- 

 yond the limit where the tidal force should be exerted. 

 The question naturally occurred, Does the ice in winter 

 attract the sea, or does it afford any similar action to the 

 capillary or sponge, to enable it to lift the inner or de- 

 press the outer portion ? for clearly the water now acts 

 beyond the tidal range of summer. Travellers indeed 

 see strange things, but in no part of the world more un- 

 explained and interesting matters than are daily pre- 

 sented in these inhospitable regions. Elsewhere the 

 mind is perhaps more completely engrossed by subjects 

 of greater interest ; here every incident furnishes matter 

 for deep study. 



In order to satisfy myself upon this subject I revisited 

 the spot at low water ; the chinks or fissures varied 

 from three to four feet in depth, and occur above the 

 line of forced-up ice. Their sides presented, even at 

 such an elevation, eighteen inches of visible clear ice, 

 and on their sides the various gradations of efflux, in 

 crystallized shelves, clearly indicated the action of the re- 

 ceding tide. The only mode by which we can account 

 for this action, or flow above the natural level of a sum- 

 mer tide, is by supposing that the quantity of ice in- 

 shore will not rise or yield, and that the infused fluid, 

 unable to find vent, flows up by every available fissure. 



