246 



FLOATING ICEBERGS. 



[CFTAF. XT. 



with streams of ice descending to the sea-coast. Almost every 

 arm of the sea, which penetrates to the interior higher chain, 

 not only in Tierra del Fuego, but on the coast for 650 miles 

 northwards, is terminated by " tremendous and astonishing gla- 

 ciers," as described by one of the officers on the survey. Great 

 masses of ice frequently fall from these icy cliffs, and the crash 

 reverberates like the broadside of a man-of-war, through the 

 lonely channels. These falls, as noticed in the last chapter, pro- 

 duce great waves which break on the adjoining coasts. It is 

 known that earthquakes frequently cause masses of earth to fall 

 from sea-cliffs : how terrific, then, would be the effect of a severe 

 shock (and such occur here*) on a body like a glacier, already 

 in motion, and traversed by fissures ! I can readily believe that 

 the water would be fairly beaten back out of the deepest channel, 

 and then returning with an overwhelming force, would whirl 

 about huge masses of rock like so much chaff. In Eyre's Sound, 

 in the latitude of Paris, there are immense glaciers, and yet the 

 loftiest neighbouring mountain is only 6200 feet high. In this 

 Sound, about fifty icebergs were seen at one time floating out- 

 wards, and one of them must have been at least 168 feet in total 



46 40' 



50'. 



47 00'. 



* Bulkeley's and Cummin's Faithful Narrative of the Loss of the Wager. 

 The earthquake happened August 25, 1741. 



