156 FALL OF AN IMMENSE MASS 



into the sea. The crew of the launch, supposing 

 themselves beyond the reach of its influence, 

 quietly looked upon the scene, when, presently, 

 a sea rose and rolled towards the shore with such 

 rapidity that the crew had not time to take any 

 precautions, and the boat was in consequence 

 washed upon the beach, and completely filled 

 by the succeeding wave. As soon as their as- 

 tonishment had subsided they examined the 

 boat, and found her so badly stove that it be- 

 came necessary to repair her in order to return 

 to ship. They had also the curiosity to measure 

 the distance the boat had been carried by the 

 wave and found it ninety-six feet. 



On another occasion we were viewing the 

 same glacier, and had approached tolerably near 

 when a similar avalanche occurred, but, fortu- 

 nately we were not near the shore, and, by 

 attending to the direction of the boat's head, 

 we rode over the wave it occasioned without 

 any accident. 



This occurred on a remarkably fine day, when 

 the quietness of the bay was first interrupted 

 by the noise of the falling body. Lieutenant 

 Franklin and myself had approached one of 

 these stupendous walls of ice, and were endea- 

 vouring to search into the innermost recess of 

 a deej) cavern that was near the foot of the 



