IAS A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 
to be. Since we came here we have observed 
another circumstance that deserves to be men- 
tioned, when speaking of the ice off this part of 
the coast : the circumstance that I allude to is, that 
a ledge of ice is firmly attached to the land, and 
extends from it in general no more than fifteen or 
twenty yards. The surface of this icy girt is 
covered with five or six feet water, and its outer 
edge is so steep, that from six to seven fathoms 
are found immediately alongside of it. 
Wednesday, 9th.—The ice has been almost con- 
stantly in motion during these two days past; some- 
times it is drifting to the eastward, and at other 
times in a contrary direction, but it never leaves a 
clear space of any extent in either way. We had 
an opportunity of observing this evening an instance 
of the violent pressure that takes place occasionally 
by the collision of this heavy ice ; for two pieces 
that. happened to come in contact close to us press- 
ed so forcibly against each other, that one of them, 
although forty-two feet thick, and at least three 
times as much in length and breadth, was forced 
up on its edge on the top of another piece. But 
even this is nothing when compared with the 
pressure that must have existed to produce the ef- 
fects visible along the shore, for not only heaps 
of earth and stones, several tons’ weight, are forced 
up, but hummocks of ice from fifty to sixty feet 
thick are piled on the beach. It is unnecessary 
to remark that a ship, although fortified as well as 
wood and iron could make her, would have but 
little chance of withstanding such overwhelming 
force ; and, from a conviction of this, we consider 
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