90 ARCTIC ICE. 



water for the voyage out, as they are sure to have an 

 abundance for consumption, both when on station there, 

 and on return from the ice bergs, or, as they are called, 

 islands of ice. 



Frequently on those immense masses, which are some- 

 times more than a mile in extent, there are found large 

 lakes of fresh waters formed by the action of the sun upon 

 their summits, and from the snow with which they are 

 generally covered. On days, when the state of the atmo- 

 sphere is favourable to evaporation, these bergs are capped 

 with a little fog, like a mountain peak. Sometimes the eva- 

 poration is so great as to envelope the ice island altogether, 

 and render it invisible, at which time it is certain destruc- 

 tion for a ship to come to wndward of it ; for the tremend- 

 ous chance is that she may come foul of it, a fate infinitely 

 worse than were the vessel to encounter a rock. Unless 

 a favourable wind, or the providential set of tide, aid in 

 moving her from this formidable associate, the ship is in 

 immediate danger of beino- buried beneath the ruins of 

 the icy mountain, which are constantly tumbling from a 

 height above the elevation of the mast, or the constant 

 indraught against its sharp edges dashes her to pieces. In 

 this awful emergency the men are active in taking to their 

 boats without consideration of any thing but to save their 

 lives. One half the vessels that are every year lost in the 



