288 Dr Martens on ths Glaciers of Spitsbergen. 



masses of ice detached from the glacier of either of the two 

 bays in question, and which floated around our vessel. Their 

 height above the water never exceeded that of the bulwarks 

 of the Recherche, that is to say, about 4 metres. Consequent- 

 ly, the part submerged could not be more than 28 metres, even 

 admitting the data of Mr Lyell,* the individual who, of all ob- 

 servers, gives the highest figure, by affirming that seven- 

 eighths of the ice are sunk in the water. Thus the most ele- 

 vated block of ice was in all only 32 metres high, an eleva- 

 tion which precisely corresponds to that of the two glaciers at 

 the bottom of Bell Sound and Magdalena Bay, above the level 

 of the sea. If they rested on the bottom, it would be entirely 

 otherwise. M. Pacini, attached to our vessel, found sound- 

 ings of 32 and 64 metres (mean 48 metres) at the very foot of 

 the great glacier of Bell Sound. At the distance of 80 me- 

 tres from that of Magdalena Bay, I constantly found between 

 102 and 103 metres. By supposing that the base of the gla- 

 cier rested on the bottom, it would follow, in regard to Bell 

 Sound, that floating masses would occur whose total height 

 would be about 80 metres, viz., 10 metres above and 70 be- 

 low the surface, and they would likewise be all at rest ground- 

 ed on the bottom, which is not the case. At Magdalena Bay 

 the floating ice would be 145 metres in total height, viz., 18 

 above and 127 below the water. They would almost all reach 

 the height of the great scuttle of a vessel's mast, and none of 

 them could float out of the bay. Now the floating masses of 

 ice did not take the ground unless at depths of about from 5 to 

 10 metres ; they often floated round the vessel, where there was 

 never more than about 17 metres depth of water. Finally, the 

 reflux of the tide carried them all out of the bay, and they 

 went in every direction where the depth approached 15 metres. 

 1th, It is easy to explain why the glacier does not enter the 

 sea, if we consider the temperature of the surface of the wa- 

 ter in summer. It is in this season only that the glaciers ad- 

 vance, for in winter the sea is almost always frozen, and must 

 therefore resist their progress. In proportion as they descend 

 (and this they do very slowly) they come in contact with a li- 



* Hoffmann, Physikalische Geographic, t. i. p. 208. 



