86 



CHAPTER IV. 



OF THE ARCTIC ICE. 



The stores of ice met Avith in high northern latitudes 

 have naturally given rise to an idea, that the farther north 

 the navigator proceeds, the more obstruction has he reason 

 to apprehend from the presence of that body. Recent 

 observations, and the experience of many years, have 

 helped to remove that delusion. Wherever an extensive 

 sea or ocean to the northward has been met with, the less 

 has ice been found to prevail, and it is only in confined 

 waters, such as are bounded by approximate lands, that 

 heavy or thick ice is seen. 



Experience has proved that the freezing takes place 

 thus. In the shore of some island or large promontory, 

 where the rock is present in great substance, if the wind 

 be favourable to the change, the surface of the sea forms 

 into small irregular cakes, generally hexagonal, inter- 

 spersed with others of smaller size and similar form ; * and 



* It is worthy of remark, that when a vessel sails in among this ice, as 

 noticed in the Journal, the wind instantly falls nearly to a calm. 



