GLACIERS. 49 



This process of contemporaneous thawing and 

 freezing seems, as I shall immediately take oc- 

 casion to explain, to have been very instrumen- 

 tal in the formation of those stupendous gla- 

 ciers, which strike with astonishment and admi- 

 ration every person who has an opportunity of 

 beholding them. 



In Magdalena Bay there are, as already ob- 

 served, four of these glaciers, two of which are 

 situated on the southern shore, at the margin 

 of the sea. The third, which I have mentioned 

 as bearing the appropriate name of " the Hang- 

 ing Iceberg," appears to have accumulated with- 

 out any lateral support, as though a stream of 

 water had issued from a particular spot and be- 

 come congealed as it descended ; thus forming 

 a nucleus, which gradually increased, and rose 

 as the stream poured its waters over its accu- 

 mulating surface, until, in the course of ages, 

 the mass has attained its present bulky dimen- 

 sions. 



The fourth, and largest, occupies the head of 

 the bay, and extends from two to three miles 

 inland. Numerous large rents in its upper 

 surface, occasioned, perhaps, either by its own 

 motion or by the subsidence of its foundation, 

 have caused it to be gratuitously named the 

 " Waggon Way," in accordance with the sup- 



E 



