320 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 



IV. Fields. — That some fields arise from the 

 cementation, by the agency of frost, of the pieces 

 of a closely aggregated pack, which may have con- 

 sisted of light or heavy ice ; and, consequently, 

 which may have been wholly derived from the ocean, 

 or from the sea and atmosphere combined. 



That the most considerable masses are genera- 

 ted in openings of the far northern ice, produced 

 by the constant recession towards the south of that 

 body lying near the coasts of Spitzbergen ; and, 

 that such fields are at first derived from the ocean, 

 but are indebted for a considerable portion of su- 

 perstructure, to the annual addition of the whole, or 

 part of their burden of snow. 



V. Ice 171 general. — That however dependant 

 the polar ice may have been on the land for its for- 

 mation and preservation, from the time of its first 

 appearance, to its gaining an ascendency over the 

 waves of the ocean, sufficient to resist their utmost 

 ravages, and to arrest the progress of maritime dis- 

 covery, at a distance of perhaps from 600 to 1000 

 miles from the Pole, — it is now evident, that the 

 proximity of land is not essential, either for its ex- 

 istence, its formation, or its increase. 



VI. Freshness of ice. — That the ice of bergs, of 

 heavy fields, floes, and drift-ice, and indeed of all 

 other kinds when solid, whether formed from rain- 



