ARCTIC ICE. 87 



if the congelation continue, these soon coalesce, and form 

 a surface very little diversified ; and after some time the 

 icy mass extends itself, mostly towards the wind, then blow- 

 ing, tliickening and spreading thus, until, a time incredibly 

 short, a field of ice is formed leagues in extent, perfectly 

 flat and even. Snow afterwards falling gives this ice a 

 firmer consistence ; and as any partial thaw of the snow 

 may afterwards take place, the dissolved liquid, having no 

 way of flowing off, lodges on the surface of the field, and 

 congeals. By this process, in the course of the winter, all 

 the inlets, straits, and narrow bays are chained together by a 

 common tie. The first formation of the ice is called 

 young ice. 



It sometimes happens that the winds or currents not 

 coming to act on some portions of the field ice, which 

 LS the name of it when properly and extensively formed, 

 the vast tract may remain stationary in the place where it 

 was originally formed, and continue to increase in thick- 

 ness for more than one winter, as has been known to 

 happen in the Waygat Sound, so as to be of a depth of 

 from five to ten fathoms, when the tide or thaw has forced 

 it from its lodgment. This ice is usually of saltish taste ; 

 but trial to that eft'ect is mostly made upon pieces that have 

 been rendered porous, or, as the sailors call them, rotten, 

 from the increased temperature of the sea water. 



When one of these fields of ice appears in the horizon 



