Icebergs upon Drift. ^ 441 



the polished French navigator, who says that, as the sun 

 shone upon the ice of the Antarctic, it appeared Uke an im- 

 mense city, with its palaces, its domes, and its towers. 



III. I will now proceed to examine the facts which will 

 serve to explain the mechanical power of moving icebergs, 

 and consider the nature and rate of their movement, their 

 overturning and stranding. 



All the observers whom I have examined, speak, without 

 exception, of the extreme slowness and steadiness of the 

 motion of large floating bergs. Nearly all say that they ap- 

 pear to be wholly unmoved by the winds or waves, although 

 one or two say that they appear to be very slowly moved by 

 the wind. Scoresby says that, in the strongest gales, they are 

 not perceptibly moved. Mr. Fernald remarks that the motion 

 of large icebergs is imperceptible. " I have seen them," he 

 says, " in a heavy gale, with a tremendous sea running; they 

 appeared as steady and motionless as the earth. The sea 

 dashes on their windward side as upon a fixed rock, while 

 under their lee a vessel may lie in perfect safety." Mr. Cur- 

 tis remembers lying to in a small schooner, under a large 

 ice-island, during a tremendous gale ; yet the little craft lay 

 perfectly safe, and made good weather. So great a portion 

 of the large icebergs being below the surface, their motion 

 must be principally influenced by the under currents, which 

 have a regular and steady flow. 



The irregularity and unsteadiness in the movements of ice- 

 bergs has been considered an important objection to the the- 

 ory which ascribes the ancient diluvial scratches and furrows 

 to the scoring and grating of the iceberg along the rock. If 

 the facts and testimony which I have presented can be relied 

 upon, they show, in the icebergs of the present seas, precisely 

 that regularity of movement which was required to produce 

 the eflfects ascribed to the icebergs of the ancient seas. 



I have carefully examined all those who have seen icebergs, 

 as to the rotatory motion which has been attributed to them. 

 No one of those whom I have examined ever saw any such 



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