SPITZBEKGEN. ICEBERGS. 105 



witli an accelerated velocity, fell with an awful crash 

 into the sea. The water into which it plunged 

 was converted into an appearance of vapour or 

 smoke, like that from a furious cannonadino\ The 

 noise was equal to that of thunder, wliich it nearly 

 resembled. The column which fell was nearly 

 square, and in magnitude resembled a church. It 

 broke into thousands of pieces. This circumstance 

 was a happy caution ; for we might inadvertently 

 have gone to the very base of the icy cliff, from 

 whence masses of considerable magnitude were con- 

 tinually breaking. This iceberg was full of rents, 

 as high as any of our people ascended upon it, ex- 

 tending in a direction perpendicularly downward, 

 and dividing it into innumerable columns. The 

 surface was very uneven, being furrowed and crack- 

 ed all over. This rouglmess appeared to be occa- 

 sioned by the melting of the snow, some streams 

 of water being seen running over the surface ; and 

 others having worn away the superficial ice, could 

 still be heard pursuing their course through sub- 

 glacial channels to the front of the iceberg, where, 

 in transparent streams, or in small cascades, they 

 fell into the sea. In some places, chasms of seve- 

 ral yards in width w^ere seen, in others they w^cre 

 only a few inches or feet across. One of the sailors 

 who attempted to walk across the iceberg, impru- 

 dently stept into a narrow chasm filled up with 

 snow to the general level. He instantly plunged up 



