POLAR ICE. — CHANGES IN ITS SITUATION. 271 



On the recession of the ice from the west side 

 of the land, a lane of water must he left from one 

 extremity to the other ; while to the south of Point 

 Look-out, a parallel motion of the ice leaves no 

 opening or evidence of its char^ge of place ; for 

 here, the ice meeting with no obstruction to cause 

 it to divide, moves on in a solid body, retained firm 

 and unbroken by the tenacious cement of the inter- 

 jacent bay-ice. 



In the month of May, the severity of the frost 

 relaxes, and the temperature occasionally approaches 

 ' within a few degrees of the freezing point : the 

 salt in the sea then exerts its liquefying energy, 

 and destroys the tenacity of tlie bay-ice, makes 

 inroads in its parts by enlarging its pores into holes, 

 diminislics its thickness, and, in the language of 

 the whale-fisher, completely rots it. Tlie packed 

 drift-ice is then liberated ; it submits to the laws of 

 detached floating bodies, and obeys the slightest 

 impulses of the winds or currents. The heavier 

 having more stability than the lighter, an apparent 

 difference of movement obtains among the pieces. 

 Holes aud lanes of water are formed, which allow 

 the entrance and progress of the ships, vv^ithout that 

 stubborn resistance offered earlier in the spring of 

 the year. 



Eay-ice is sometimes serviceable to tlie wlialers, 

 j in preserving tliem from, the brunt of the heavy 

 i ice, by embedding tlieir ships, and occasioning an 



