354 VOYAGE TO THE 



chap. ca sing to the cliff, which was composed of mud and 

 "— ^y-*- / gravel in a frozen state. On removing the earth 

 1826. above, it was also evident, by a decided line of sepa- 

 ration between the ice and the cliff, that the Rus- 

 sians had been deceived by appearances. By cut- 

 ting into the upper surface of the cliff three feet 

 from the edge, frozen earth, similar to that which 

 formed the face of the cliff, was found at eleven 

 inches' depth ; and four yards further back the same 

 substance occurred at twenty-two inches' depth. 



The glacial facing we afterwards noticed in seve- 

 ral parts of the sound ; and it appears to me to be 

 occasioned either by the snow being banked up 

 against the cliff, or collected in its hollows in the 

 winter, and converted into ice in the summer by 

 partial thawings and freezings — or by the constant 

 flow of water during the summer over the edges of 

 the cliffs, on which the sun's rays operate less forci- 

 bly than on other parts, in consequence of their as- 

 pect. The streams thus become converted into ice, 

 either while trickling down the still frozen surface 

 of the cliffs, or after they reach the earth at their 

 base, in which case the ice rises like a stalagmite, 

 and in time reaches the surface. But before this 

 is completed, the upper soil, loosened by the thaw, 

 is itself projected over the cliff, and falls in a heap 

 below, whence it is ultimately carried away by the 

 tide. We visited this spot a month later in the sea- 

 son, and found a considerable alteration in its ap- 

 pearance, manifesting more clearly than before the 

 deception under which Kotzebue laboured. 



The deserted village upon the low point consisted 

 of a row of huts, rudely formed with drift-wood and 

 turf, about six feet square and four feet in height. 



