530 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



indeed also occurs on the ice. This 

 ferocious animal seeins to be the 

 natural lord of those regions. He 

 preys indiscriminately on quadru- 

 ped, fowl, reptile, and fish ; all 

 behold him witli (h-ead, and flee 

 his presence. Tlic seals signify 

 their fear of him by their constant 

 watching, and betake themselves 

 precipitately to the water on his 

 approach. Carrion, therefore, (of 

 which the carcase of the whale is 

 at a certain season the most plen- 

 tiful), affords him a passive, sure, 

 and favourite food. His sense of 

 smelling is peculiarly acute : in 

 his march, he is frequently ob- 

 served to face the breeze, to rear 

 his head, and snuflf the passing 

 scent, whereby he can discover 

 the nearest route to his odorous 

 banquet, though the distance be 

 incredibly great. 



The water of the ocean is not 

 the least interesting of the ele- 

 ments, particularly as affording 

 the bed, and partly the materials 

 for the most prodigious masses of 

 ice. Its colour is peculiar. Its 

 products are numerous, and of 

 particular importance. It is here 

 that the huge Mysticetus, or 

 Whalebone Whale, takes up his 

 residence, and collects his food ; — 

 it is here that he sports and asto- 

 nishes, by his vast bulk and pro- 

 portionate strength; — and it is 

 here that he becomes the object of 

 maritime adventure, and a source 

 of commercial riches. 



Ice, an interesting production. 



Of the inanimate productions of 

 Greenland, none perhaps excites 

 so much interest and astonishment 

 in a stranger, as the ice in its 

 great abundance and variety. The 



stupendous masses, known by the 

 name of Ice-Islands, Floating- 

 Mountains, or Icebeigs, common 

 to Davis' Straits and sometimes 

 met with here, from their height, 

 various forms, and the depth of 

 water in which they ground, are 

 calculated to strike the beholder 

 with wonder : yet the fields of ice, 

 more peculiar to Greenland, are 

 not less astonishing. Their defi- 

 ciency in elevation is sufficiently 

 compensated by their amazing ex- 

 tent of surface. Some of them 

 liave been observed near a hundred 

 miles in length, and more than 

 half that breadth ; each consisting 

 of a single sheet of ice, having its 

 surface raised in general four or 

 six feet above the level of the 

 water, and its base depressed to 

 the depth of near twenty feet be- 

 neath. 



The various kinds of Ice described. 



The ice in general is designated 

 by a variety of appellations, dis- 

 tinguishing it according to the 

 size or number of pieces, their 

 form of aggregation, thickness, 

 transparency, &c. I perhaps can- 

 not better explain the terms in 

 common acceptation amongst the 

 whale- fishers, than by marking 

 the disruption of a field. The 

 thickest and strongest field cannot 

 resist the power of a heavy swell ; 

 indeed, such are much less capable 

 of bending without being dissever- 

 ed, than the thinner ice which is 

 more pliable. When a field, by 

 the set of the current, drives to 

 the southward, and being deserted 

 by the loose ice, becomes exposed 

 to the effects of a ground swell, it 

 presently breaks into a great many 

 pieces, few of which will exceed 



forty 



