252 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA. 



flowing into it, else it would either become fresh, or the whole 

 Atlantic Ocean would become more and more briny, and be final- 

 ly silted up with salt. It might be supposed, were there no evi- 

 dence to the contrary, that this salt was supplied to the polar seas 

 from the Atlantic around North Cape, and from the Pacific through 

 Behring's Straits, and through no other channels. But, fortunate- 

 ly, arctic voyagers, who have cruised in the direction of Davis' 

 Straits, have confirmed by their observations a law of nature 

 (§ 474), and afforded us proof positive as to the fact of this other 

 source for supplying the polar seas with salt. They tell us of an 

 under current setting from the Atlantic toward the polar basin. 

 They describe huge icebergs, with tops high up in the air, and of 

 course the bases of which extend far down into the depths of the 

 ocean, ripping and tearing their way with terrific force and awful 

 violence through the surface ice or against a surface current, on 

 their way into the polar basin. 



482. Passed Midshipman S. P. Grifiin, who commanded the brig 

 Icebergs drifting I^GSCUC in the American searching expedition aft- 

 ^^^^^' er Sir John Franklin, informs me that, on one oc- 



casion, the two vessels were endeavoring, when in Baffin's Bay, 

 to warp up to the northward against a strong surface current, 

 which of course was setting to the south ; and that, while so en- 

 gaged, an iceberg, with its top many feet above the water, came 

 "drifting up" from the south, and passed by them "like a shot." 

 Although they were stemming a surface current against both the 

 berg and themselves, such was the force and velocity of the un- 

 der current that it carried the berg to the northward faster than 

 the crew could warp the vessel against a surface but counter cur- 

 i-ent. They hooked on to it, and were towed to the north by it. 

 Captain Duncan, master of the English whale-ship Dundee, says, 

 at page 76 of his interesting little narrative:* ^^ December 18ih 

 (1826). It w\as awful to behold the immense icebergs working 

 their way to the northeast from us, and not one drop of water to 

 be seen ; they were working themselves right through the mid- 

 dle of the ice." And again, at page 92, etc. : " February 23c?. 

 Latitude 68° 37' north, longitude about 63° west. The dreadful 

 apprehensions that assailed us yesterday by the near approach of 



* Arctic Regions ; Voyage to Davis' Strait, by Dorea Duncan, Master of the Ship 

 Dundee, 1826, 1827. 



