Icebergs upon Drift. 433 



had often particularly attracted his attention, and he could 

 not account for their being so found. Mr. Thomas Davison, 

 of Stonington, also informed me that he had seen rocks of 

 several tons weight in the side of a fixed iceberg, where a 

 portion had fallen off. 



The glaciers of the South Shetlands and Sandwich Land 

 are frequently covered with earth and sand, which appear 

 to be often of a volcanic character. 



Captains William and Benjamin Pendleton, Messrs. William 

 Ash, and Thomas Davison, of Stonington, have separately 

 described to me a singular phenomenon, which was observed 

 upon the high glaciers of the South Shetlands, at the height 

 of several hundred feet above the level of the sea. In many 

 places, near the immense fissures which occur in those glaciers, 

 are seen piles of black earth and sand. These piles or heaps 

 of earth appeared precisely as if they had been carted and 

 dropped in various places along the ice. Immediately below 

 the earth, the hard blue ice could be seen, in the fissures, ex- 

 tending down hundreds of feet. This phenomenon, 1 think, 

 must be peculiar to volcanic regions like the Shetlands. It 

 would be difficult to account for the peculiar form and posi- 

 tion of these piles of sand without the supposition of volcanic 

 action. 



The low glaciers would seem to be more thoroup^hlv cov- 

 ered. Captain Benjamin Pendleton informed me that, in 

 18-21, he lost a seaman at the South Shetlands, and, with 

 a gang of twelve men, went ashore upon one of the islands 

 to bury him in the earth. They dug in a great many places 

 through the blue sand and earth ; but, after digging six or 

 eight inches, invariably came to the blue solid ice. They cut 

 a hole in the ice, into which they placed the body, covering 

 it with sand and ice, placing up a board, alas ! the sailor's 

 only monument, to mark the spot. In 183*2, eleven years 

 after. Captain Barnum dug the body from the ice, and found 

 the body and clothes appearing as if they had been just de- 

 posited. 



Mr. Fernald visited a volcanic island in Sandwich Land, 



48 



