54 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ASSOCIATION OF 



and its longest diameter two thirds of a mile. The ship, sailing at 

 the rate of seven miles an hour, was two hours and three quarters 

 in coming up with it after it was first seen from the deck, when it 

 already loomed up like a large islet. Immediately on its discovery 

 the ship was headed directly for it, till witliin half a mile of the herg, 

 at which distance it was passed. Without the aid of a glass Mr. C. 

 distinctly saw enormous masses of rock projecting from different 

 parts of this ice mountain, some of them apparently having a surface 

 of at least twenty feet square. The swell, which was very heavy 

 from the westward, washed up the sloping sides to the height of 

 eighty or one hundred feet, recoiling in vast sheets resembling cata- 

 racts ; and where the face of the berg was perpendicular, the surf 

 broke against it as if it had been a wall of rock, with tremendous 

 force, and a booming roar like that of distant heavy thunder. There 

 appeared to have been a recent overturn of the berg, inasifmch as 

 the water for a mile's distance from it was full of fragments, some of 

 them sufficiently large to endanger a vessel. One of the most re- 

 markable phenomena observed by Mr. C, was the almost incredibly 

 rapid revolution of this huge body on its vertical axis, in consequence 

 of which it did not present the same aspect for two minutes together. 

 One moment it was a pyramid, the next barn-shaped, and in another 

 a glittering pile of peaks and serrated crests, or battlements, like 

 those of some ancient castellated citadel, was exhibited. Scarcely 

 was there time to sketch the rudest outline of one configuration, ere 

 it gave place to another totally dissimilar. This melting away of the 

 various figures, could be compared to nothing better than the sudden 

 and fanciful changes we see in turning a kaleidoscope. Mr. Cou- 

 thouy here exhibited to the Association a series of sketches taken 

 at the time, as illustrative of the variety of form spoken of. The 

 following statement of the temperature of the ah and ocean at va- 

 rious distances from the berg, was given as evidence of the great 

 extent to which they were affected by its presence, and the influence 

 which, as before mentioned, this circumstance exerted on the retard- 

 ation of the dissolution of similar masses : 



' Noon. 2 p.m. 3 p.m. 330 p.m. 4 p. m^ 4. 30 p.m. 5p.m. 530 p. m. 



Air, 54" 53° 50° 46° 42° 37° 35° 37° 



Water, 50° 50° 48° 44° 43° 36° 36° 40° 



Distance of berg,33' 19' (visible,) 12" 8' 4^' 1' 3' 6' 



When nearest the iceberg, (which was within a short half mile,) 

 the water was at a litile below 34° Fahr., and the air at 35°. After 

 passing the island, when about two miles to leeward, a smart fall of 

 hail was experienced, which lasted about ten minutes. By this 

 statement it a])pears, that the water, three miles to leeward of the 

 island, was 7° Fahr. colder than that four and a half miles to wind- 

 ward ; and at six miles, 3° colder than at four and a half, and 4" colder 

 than at eisht miles to windward, owing probably to a surface current 

 carrying the cold water from it in the direction tlie wind was blow- 

 ing. The latitude of this ice island was 53° 20' S., and its longitude 



