FROM THE GLACIER. 157 



glacier, when we heard a report as if of a can- 

 non, and, turning to the quarter whence it pro- 

 ceeded, we perceived an immense piece of the 

 front of the berg sliding down from a height of 

 two hundred feet at least into the sea, and dis- 

 persing the water in every direction, accompa- 

 nied by a loud grinding noise, and followed by 

 a quantity of water, which, being previously 

 lodged in the fissures, now made its escape in 

 numberless small cataracts over the front of 

 the glacier. We kept the boat's head in the 

 direction of the sea, and thus escaped the dis- 

 aster which had befallen the other boat ; for 

 the disturbance occasioned by the plunge of this 

 enormous fragment caused a succession of rollers 

 which swept over the surface of the bay, making 

 its shores resound as it travelled along it, and 

 at a distance of four miles was so considerable 

 that it became necessary to aright the Dorothea, 

 which was then careening, by immediately re- 

 leasing the tackles which confined her.* 



The piece that had been disengaged at first 

 wholly disappeared under water, and nothing 

 was seen but a violent boiling of the sea, and 

 a shooting up of clouds of spray, like that which 

 occurs at the foot of a great cataract. After 

 a short time it reappeared, raising its head full 



* From Captain Buchan's letter. 



