430 Probable influence of 



abut upon these fiords ; hence the greater number are closed 

 by a glacier, close to which the water has often a depth of 

 several hundred fatlioms. Several of the inlets are now com- 

 pletely filled up, and at others the ice projects far out into the 

 waves, forming a considerable promontory. 



1 have obtained from Mr. Fernald, of Portsmouth, a gen- 

 tleman of great intelligence, and of remarkably accurate 

 habits of observation, a statement prepared from a minute 

 journal of the facts observed by him, in relation to ice, during 

 a residence of fifteen months among the islands of South 

 Georgia and Sandwich Land. He observes that " the Island 

 of South Georgia, lying in latitude 54° 30', is deeply in- 

 dented with bays, some of them so deep on opposite sides as 

 almost to meet in the centre. Many of the bays have large 

 icebergs at their head, not yet free from the shores. During 

 our stay there," he says, *' I visited many of the icebergs. 

 They were all formed in the valleys, at the head or sides of 

 the bays, between tlie mountains, and make oft' into the sea. 

 The snow falls to great depths on the mountains and valleys. 

 The rays of the low summer sun, not reaching the snow in 

 the valleys, melts it on the tops and sides alone of the moun- 

 tains. Tlie streams running down upon the great body of 

 snow in the valleys, and congealing every successive year, 

 add annually a new covering, until the whole space between 

 the mountains inland, and on the side next the bay, presents 

 a perpendicular and sometimes overhanging mass, several 

 hundred feet high above the water, and a mile or two in 

 length." 



He further remarks, " In our cruise we searched some of 

 the islands at Sandwich Land. In some places the ice made 

 from the tops of the highest hills down into the sea. In one 

 place, in particular, the sea had washed in under the ice as 

 far as we could see, and this huge body of ice, four or five 

 hundred feet in height on its face, and a mile or two in length, 

 hung, not touching the beach by four or five feet, except at 

 the sides of the mountains where it formed. The face next 

 the sea was nearly perpendicular." 



