NATURAL HISTORY. 



543 



From the deep pools of water 

 formed in the summer season on 

 the depressed surface of some 

 bergs, the ships imvigatiiig where 

 they abound are presented with 

 opportunities for watering with 

 the greatest ease and dispatch. 

 For this purpose, casks are landed 

 upon the lower bergs, whilsfj 

 from the higher, the water is con - 

 veyed by means of a hose into 

 casks placed in the boats, at the 

 side of the ice, or even upon the 

 deck of the ship. 



Navigating amongst icebergs in 

 the gloom of night, has sometimes 

 been attended with fatal conse- 

 quences. Occurring far from 

 land, and in unexpected situations, 

 the danger would be extreme, were 

 they not providentially rendered 

 visible by their natural effulgence, 

 which enables the mariner to dis- 

 tinguish them at some distance, 

 even in the darkest night, or 

 during the prevalence of the 

 densest fog. 



Abstract of the remarks on the for- 

 mation of the Polar Ice. 



From what has been advanced 

 in the preceding pages, on the 

 mode and place of formation of 

 the ice, occurring in the seas in- 

 termediate between East Green- 

 land or Spitzbergen, and West or 

 Old Greenland, the following con- 

 clusions seem naturally to result, 

 and which will paitly apply to the 

 formation of the ice in other 

 places of the polar circle : 



I. Drift ice.— That the light 

 packed or drift ice is the annual 

 product of the bays of Spitzbergen, 

 and of the interstices in the body 

 of older ice ; and, that it is wholly 

 derived from the water of the 

 ocean. 



That the heavy packed or drift 

 ice generally arises from the dis- 

 ruption of fields. 



II. Icebergs. — That some ice 

 mountains or iceVjcrgs are derived 

 fiom the icebergs generated on 

 tiie land l)etween the mountains 

 of the sea coast, and are conse- 

 quently the product of snow or 

 rain water. 



That a more considerable por- 

 tion may probably be formed in 

 the deep sheltered bays abounding 

 on the east coast of Spitzbergen. 

 These have their bed in the waters 

 of the ocean, and are partly the 

 product of sea-water, and partly 

 that of snow and rain water. And 

 it is higlily probable. 



That a continent of ice moun- 

 tains may exist in regions near the 

 Pole, yet unexplored, the nucleus 

 of which may be as ancient as the 

 earth itself, and its increase de- 

 rived from the sea and atmosphere 

 combined. 



III. Fields.— That some fields 

 arise from the cementation, by 

 the agency of frost, of the pieces 

 of a closely aggregated pack, 

 which may have consisted of light 

 or heavy ice ; and, consequently, 

 which may have been wholly de- 

 rived from tlie ocean, or from tlie 

 sea and atmosphere combined. 



That the most considerable 

 masses ai'e generated 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 animal addi- 

 tion of the whole, or part of their 

 burthen of snow. And, 



IV. At to the ice in general. — 



That 



