STUDY IV. 20I 



turrets of Notre-Dame, and that they may be feen 

 at the diftance of from 15 to 18 leagues. Their 

 cold is felt on fhip-board at a fimilar diftance. 

 ** They are," according to his account*, ** fome- 

 *' times in fuch numbers, being all carried for- 

 " ward by the fame wind, that there have been 

 '* veffels, making toward the land to fifli, which 

 " fell in with fome of them, in a feries of a hun- 

 " dred and fifty leagues in length, and upward ; 

 '* which coafted along them for a day or two, the 

 ** night included, with a frefli breeze, and every 

 " fail fet, without being able to reach the extre- 

 *' mity. In this manner they keep on under way, 

 " looking for an opening through which the vef- 

 " fel may pafs ; if they find one, they crofs it, as 

 " through a ftrait ; otherwife, they muft get on, 

 *' till they have outfailed the whole chain, in order 

 " to make good their pafTage ; for the way is 

 *' throughout blocked up with ice. Thefe ices do 

 *' not melt, till they meet the warm water toward 

 "the South, or are forced by the wind on the land 

 " fide. Some of them run aground in from 25 

 ** to 30 fathoms of water ; judge of their height, 

 *' exclufive of what is above water. The filher- 

 '* men have aflured me, that they faw one aground, 

 ** on the great bank, in 45 fathom water, and 



* Natural Hiftory of North- America. Vol. ii. chap, i; 

 page 44 and 45. 



which 



