2IO AMONGST THE SOUTHERN ICE. 



surface. It appeared as if the denser mass were here all 

 below water, and not large enough to float more than the 

 lighter, more friable and recent top deposit above the water.* 



Antarctic icebergs have been met with by merchant vessels 

 in higher latitudes, varying in length from one to seven, or 

 even ten miles in length. In 1854, a vast body of ice was 

 passed and reported by twenty-one merchant ships in lat. 44° 

 to 40° S., long. 28° to 20° W., a latitude corresponding to that 

 of the northern coast of Portugal. The ice mass, which was 

 probably a group of icebergs locked together, was in the form 

 of a hook, 60 miles long by 40 broad, enclosing a bay 40 miles 

 in breadth ; none of the ice masses composing it exceeded 300 

 feet in height.t 



During the short time that we were amongst the icebergs 

 we met with none that Ijore upon them any moraines or rocks 

 which could with certainty be determined as such. The 

 scarcity of such appearances has been remarked by former 

 voyagers. Nevertheless, there are numerous instances of rocks 

 having been seen on southern bergs. 



Several observers have met with rocks on bergs. Wilkes 

 saw many such ; Ross also, and the latter, on one occasion, 

 landed a party on a berg on which there was a volcanic rock 

 weighing many tons, and which was covered with mud and 

 stones.t Mr. Darwin has published a note on a rock seen on 

 an Antarctic iceberg in lat. 61° S.§ 



Dr. Wallich II remarks on the similar scarcity of the appear- 

 ance of stones or gravel on northern bergs. Not one in a 

 thousand shows dirt, etc. He attributes this to the very small 

 disturbance of their centres of gravity which icebergs undergo 

 when floating freely. Stones and gravel may be present in 

 most cases, but remain most frequently invisible under water 

 in the lower parts of the bergs. We dredged up in deep water 

 on two occasions, near the pack-ice, fragments of gneiss and 

 slate which were certainly transported thither by ice. 



* For a magnificent series of large photographic views of Arctic ice- 

 bergs and ice scenery, see "The Arctic Regions," by William Bradford, 

 London, Samp&on Low & Marston, 1873. 



f " South Atlantic Directory," p. 94. W. H. Rosser, and J. F. Imray. 

 London, 1870. Here will be found a general account of icet)crgs in the 

 South Atlantic. On same subject see J. T. Towson, " On Icebergs in the 

 Southern Ocean." Liverpool, 1859. 



X Ross, "Antarctic Voyage," Vol. I., p. 173. London, J. Murray, 

 1847. 



§ C. Darwin, "Notes on a Rock seen on an Iceberg in lat. 61'' S." 

 Geog. Soc. Journ. IX., 1839, pp. 528, 529. "The Voyage of the 'Eliza 

 .Scott,' Commander John Balleny." journal of Researches, p. 251. 



II G. C. Wallich, M.D., F.L.S., etc., "The North Atlantic Sea Bed," 

 Pt. I, p. 56. London, Van Voorst, 1826. 



