THE ARCTIC SEAS. H9 



face of the ocean. There is scarcely a more beauti- 

 ful object than one of the towering icebergs that so 

 abound in these regions, and that annually come 

 down upon the southern current, into the temper- 

 ate zone. I have seen numbers of these floating 

 islands, of dazzling whiteness, on the coast of New- 

 foundland, whither they are brought every spring 

 out of Baffin's Bay. They do not long endure their 

 transition, but soon melt away in the warm waters of 

 the Atlantic, though they are sometimes seen on the 

 coast of the United States, as far down as Phila- 

 delphia. In watching some small ice-islands, which, 

 having drifted into the ports of Newfoundland, have 

 grounded in shoal water, I have been surprised to 

 observe how very rapid is their dissolution, even in 

 the month of April. Some large ones, however, are 

 frequently seen in the ba}^s of that country, even in 

 July. They are often of vast dimensions : one seen 

 by Ross, in Baffin's Bay, was estimated to be nearly 

 two miles and a half long, two miles wide, and fifty 

 feet high. Of course this estimate respects only that 

 part which is visible above the surface of the water ; 

 but this is a very small portion of its actual bulk. 

 The relative proportion of the part which is exposed 

 to that which is submerged, varies according to the 

 character of the ice: in Newfoundland the part 

 under water is usually considered to be ten times 

 greater than that exposed, but if the ice be porous, 

 it is not more than eiofht times greater ; while, on the 

 other hand, Phipps found that of dense ice, fourteen 

 parts out of fifteen sunk. These floating icebergs 

 are various in form ; sometimes rising into pointed 



