ARCTIC ICE. 91 



fisheries are owing to accidents of this kind, whence it is 

 one of the great concerns of the watch upon deck to look 

 out sharply for fear of falling in with an ice berg. 



The numerous opinions hitherto advanced on the origin 

 of those stupendous masses of congelation, have been 

 advanced by persons who never had an opportunity of 

 seeing the place whence they come. They are usually 

 seen surrounded by field ice, when out at sea, that is, out 

 of sight of land. They are also found frequently imbedded 

 in field ice, near the land in the bays and fiords (p. fiors, 

 creeks), where they are often grounded on the rocks. A 

 ridge of submarine mountains, running across the straits 

 from Reef KoU to the American land, is another theatre 

 wherein they are arrested. The peaks beneath, at times 

 surrounded with streams of ice, resemble an extensive 

 city, with its towers, churches and monuments. North of 

 Disko and of North-east Bay there is a deep recess, to the 

 southward of Black Hook, where the tide stream forces in 

 a vast number of ice islands, so much that the place is 

 by seamen called Bergy Bay. Some ice bergs retain their 

 situation a great length of time in particular places, and 

 are recognized year after year by the whale hunters. 



It would be an endless task to enumerate the variety of 

 their forms ; some peaked like a mountain : others with 

 high, flat, table summits ; and many with Gothic arches 

 in them, frequently quite through, and of more than 



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