POLAR ICE. — INFLUENCE ON THE SEA. 301 



ture. On coming near a body of ice, from off which 

 the wind blows, a remarkable increase of cold is felt ; 

 as much sometimes as ten degrees in an hour's sail- 

 ing. 



7. The reciprocal action of the ice and the sea 

 on each other, is particularly striking, which ever 

 may have the ascendancy. If, on the one hand, 

 the ice be arranged with a certain form of aggrega- 

 tion, and in due solidity, it becomes capable of re- 

 sisting the turbulence of the ocean, and can, with 

 but little comparative diminution or breaking, sup- 

 press its most violent surges. Its resistance is so 

 effectual, that ships sheltered by it, rarely find the 

 sea disturbed by swells. On the other hand, the 

 most formidable fields yield to the slightest grown 

 swell, and become disrupted into thousands of pieces; 

 and ice of only a few weeks growth, on being assail- 

 ed by a turbulent sea, is broken and annihilated with 

 incredible celerity. Bay-ice, indeed, which for weeks 

 has been an increasing pest to the whale-fisher, is 

 sometimes removed in the space of a few hours. The 

 destruction is in many cases so rapid, that to an un- 

 experienced observer, the occurrence seems incredi- 

 ble, and rather an illusion of fancy, than a matter of 

 fact. Suppose a ship immoveably fixed in bay-ice, 

 and not the smallest opening to be seen : after a 

 lapse of time sufficient only for a moderate repose, 

 imagine a person rising from his bed, — when, be- 

 hold, the insurmountable obstacle has vanished ! 



