POLAR ICE. MAGNITUDE OF ICE-BERGK. 251 



the account of Spitzbergen ; it is only necessary, 

 therefore, in this place, to mention the floating ice- 

 bergs. 



Ice-bergs occur in many places in the Arctic and 

 Antarctic regions ; some of them of astonishing 

 magnitude. In the Spitzbergen sea, indeed, they 

 are neither numerous nor bulky, compared with 

 those of other regions ; the largest I ever met with 

 in this quarter not exceeding 1000 yards in cir- 

 cumference and 200 feet in thickness. But in 

 Hudson's Strait, Davis' Strait, and Baffin's Bay, 

 they occur of a prodigious size. Ellis describes 

 them as sometimes occurring of the thickness of 

 500 or 600 yards. Frobisher saw one ice-berg 

 which was judged to be " near fourscore fathoms 

 above water." Captain Middlcton states the oc- 

 casional size of bergs as being three or four miles in 

 circumference, 100 fathoms under water, and a 

 fifth or sixth part above. Captain Ross, in Davis' 

 Strait and Baffin's Bay, observed a variety of ice- 

 bergs ; at one time at least 700 being in sight, of 

 which some were of astonishing magnitude, and of 

 very singular form. One berg is described by Cap- 

 tain Ross as being 40 feet high and 1000 feet long; 

 another 85 feet high and 1200 feet in circumfe- 

 rence ; another 325 feet high and 1200 feet long; 

 another aground in 150 fathoms water, and several 

 together aground in 250 fathoms ; and one, he par- 

 ticularly describes, (the dimensions of which were 



