318 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 



SECT. XI. 



Abstract of the preceding Observations on the 

 Formation, Properties, and Situation of the 

 Polar Ice. 



From what has been advanced respecting the si- 

 tuation, properties, and manner of formation of the 

 ice surrounding the Pole, the following conclusions 

 seem naturally to result ; and as far as relates to the 

 formation of ice, will apply generally to all situa- 

 tions within the Polar circles where ice occurs. 



I. Bay-ice. — That much bay-ice is annually 

 formed in the seas of Spitzbergen and Davis' Strait; 

 in the Bays of Hudson and Baffin, and in other si- 

 tuations near the Pole, where it sometimes attains 

 such a degree of strength and solidity, as to produce 

 light fields and floes, and when broken up, light 

 drift-ice. 



That the kind of bay-ice called Pancake or Cake 

 Ice, is frequently formed in bodies of considerable 

 extent, and in sheets of considerable thickness on 

 the southern face of the main body of the polar ice, 

 even where exposed to the swells of the Atlantic 

 Ocean; and that bay-ice is necessarily derived en^ 

 i tirely from sea-water. 



