92 Smithsonian Exploration in Alaska in 1904 



[Narrative of the Voyage of the H. M. S. Herald during the Years 

 1845-51, under Captain Henry Kellett, R. N. By Berthold Seemann. In 

 two volumes. London, 1853, Vol. H, p. ^^. The Ice-cliffs of Eschscholtz 

 Bay — Their Formation and Fossil Rema-ins — Sir John Richardson's views on 

 them.] 



" The ice-cliffs ' of Eschscholtz Bay, in Kotzebue Sound, well 

 deserve attention. They extend along the southern side of the bay, 

 east and west, from Elephant Point to Eschscholtz Point ; they are 

 from forty to ninety feet high, and consist of three distinct layers. 

 The lower layer is ice, the central clay, containing fossils, and the 

 uppermost peat. Partly from the action of the waves, partly the 

 thawing of the ice, that side of the cliffs facing the sea is cut per- 

 pendicularly, and presents a clear viev/ of the internal structure of 

 the formation. 



" The ice, or lower layer, as far as it can be seen above the ground, 

 is from twenty to fifty feet thick, but is every year decreasing. In 

 the months of July, August, and September a considerable quantity 

 melts, which causes the downfall of the two upper layers, and gives 

 [p. 34] the whole a very confused aspect, by mixing together peat, 

 clay, plants, bones, and ice in a most disorderly manner. The ice 

 was thought by some of the earlier visitors to be only a superficial 

 coating; but this supposition was disproved in 1849, when enormous 

 portions were found to have separated from the main body, testifying 

 beyond a doubt that it formed part of a solid iceberg. Others, who 

 comprehended the real nature of this lower layer, endeavored to 

 explain its presence by assummg that the water of the surface pene- 

 trated through the peat and clay, gradually accumulated, changed 

 into a mass of ice, and thus caused the rising of the cliffs. This 

 hypothesis at first sight appears plausible, but if examined it falls 

 to the ground. In temperate climates we often find moorlands ris- 

 ing, like a sponge, in consequence of the mass of water which has 

 accumulated in them ; in Kotzebue Sound, however, where the soil is 

 always frozen at a depth of two or three feet from the surface, no 

 water can possibly sink to the depth of several fathoms, and conse- 

 quently no rising can take place. 



" The second or central layer varies in thickness from two to 

 twenty feet, and consists of alluvial clay intermingled with gravel, 

 sand, and fossil bones, the whole emitting the peculiar smell com- 

 mon in burial-places. In one spot was found some long black hair, 

 together with a quantity of light brown dust, evidently decomposed 



" For a view of these cliffs see Plate I of the " Botany of the Voyage of 

 H. M. S. Herald." 



