Icebergs upon Drift. 427 



these phenomena, it seems desirable that we should have more 

 extended information upon the natural history of icebergs. 

 To obtain the desirable information upon this subject, I have 

 directed letters to various nautical gentlemen, from whom I 

 was led to expect information. I visited New Bedford, the 

 great centre of the American whaling business, and directed 

 my inquiries to the masters of whaling ships, who frequently 

 encounter icebergs in the southern latitudes. I visited Ston- 

 ington, and consulted the hardy and intelligent men who have 

 prosecuted the seal fishery in the Antarctic regions, and who 

 have a more intimate knowledge of the south polar regions 

 than any men living. Besides drawing from these sources of 

 information, I have conversed with many masters of our mer- 

 chantmen and Labrador fishermen, who often meet the ice 

 upon the Banks of Newfoundland. I have also seen three or 

 four individuals who were familiar with the ice in the Arctic 

 Seas. The number of persons whom I have consulted is 

 nearly a hundred. I have also collected such facts from the 

 authentic published accounts as might bear upon the subject 

 of my inquiries. 



In making my investigations, I have been scrupulously 

 careful to consult only those whose general reputation would 

 entitle them to entire credit, and have principally directed my 

 inquiries to the masters and officers of vessels. I have been 

 influenced by no attachment to a particular theory, or desire 

 to collect an imposing mass of facts. I have endeavored to 

 discharge my task as one would execute a judicial commis- 

 sion to take testimony ; placing down alike negative and 

 positive evidence; rejecting only that which was impertinent 

 or contradictory. Those who have attributed so many of the 

 phenomena of drift to the action of icebergs, may be sur- 

 prised at the small number of facts obtained from such ample 

 sources of information. Yet the evidence will have the 

 same scientific value as if many more positive facts were 

 presented. 



The present inquiry results from the attention which has 

 been given, within the last three or four years, to the so called 



