36 SPITSBERGEN 



ceived an immense piece of the front of the cliff of ice 

 gliding down from a height of two hundred feet at 

 least into the sea, and dispersing the water in every 

 direction, accompanied by a loud grinding noise, and 

 followed by a quantity of water, which, lodged in the 

 fissures, made its escape in numberless small cataracts 

 over the front of the glacier. They kept the boat's 

 head in the direction of the sea and thus escaped 

 disaster, for the disturbance occasioned by the plunge 

 of this enormous fragment caused a succession of 

 rollers, which swept over the surface of the bay, 

 making its shores resound as it travelled along it, and 

 at a distance of four miles was so considerable that it 

 became necessary to right the Dorothea, which was then 

 careening, by instantly releasing the tackles which con- 

 fined her. The piece that had been disengaged wholly 

 disappeared under water, and nothing was seen but a 

 violent boiling of the sea and a shooting up of clouds 

 of spray like that which occurs at the foot of a great 

 cataract. After a short time it reappeared, raising its 

 head full a hundred feet above the surface, with water 

 pouring down from all parts of it ; and then, labouring 

 as if doubtful which way it should fall, it rolled over, 

 and, after rocking about for some minutes, became 

 settled. It was nearly a quarter of a mile round and 

 floated sixty feet out of the water, and making a 

 fair allowance for its inequalities, was computed to 

 weigh 421,600 tons. 



There were frequent landings, often with difficulties 

 in the return, due generally to attempts at making a 

 short cut to the shore or across the ice. Of these 

 short cuts the very shortest was that made by one of 



