44 THE OCEAN. 



ever approach one nearer than about a mile, and then always keep- 

 ing to windward of them, for otherwise they would be in danger 

 of drifting upon the terrible mass, towards which in addition a some- 

 what strong current is always flowing to replace the upper stratum 

 of water rendered colder by contact with the floating mountain. En- 

 veloped in fog in consequence of the lowness of their temperature com- 

 pared with that of the warm humid air from the south, the gigantic 

 hull of the glacier discovers itself to seamen by strange whitish reflec- 

 tions and also by the intense cold of the surrounding atmosphere. 

 But sometimes when this indication of peril has just been recognized 

 it is too late to avoid the shock. Hundreds of ships overtaken by 

 the ice have thus disappeared with their crews in the cold waters of 

 the ocean. At other times, even in clear weather, one meets with a 

 whole archipelago of ice-floes ; and in order to avoid them it^ is 

 necessary to steer with the greatest precaution for days together. It 

 was tlius that in 1821 the English brig Anne, surprised by the 

 ice before Cape Race, not being able to enter a free sea, was obliged 

 to remain 29 days surrounded by towers and threatening peaks. 

 Happily these fragments of glaciers diminish very quickly in 

 number and height as soon as they enter the zone of the Gulf-stream. 

 Worn away at their base by the tepid waters of that current they 

 capsize, break, and dissolve so completely, that towards the 40th degree 

 of latitude it is rarely that any fragments even remain. However in 

 June, 1842, the ship Formosa encountered in ST"" 30' of north latitude 

 a floating iceberg 30 yards high and 50 yards long moving towards 

 the south.* 



In the Antarctic hemisphere, exactly similar phenomena occur. 

 Thus, as is proved by numerous observations, more than 860 of which 

 have been regularly catalogued by Fitzroy and other geographers, 

 the ice-fields and fragments of glaciers of the southern continent 

 float likewise in the direction of the equator. But it seems that 

 the icebergs of the southern hemisphere generally present less variety 

 of form than those of the opposite one. They are not peaks 

 and domes with fantastic outlines, but rather resemble walls rising 

 like rocky precipices to an elevation of about 160 to 200 feet; 

 these floating masses are probably, however, on an average of still 

 more considerable dimensions than the masses which fall from 

 Arctic glaciers. The massive form of these floating mountains of 

 the southern seas must doubtless be attributed to the severe cold 

 which prevails in the south polar zone, which drives the snow and 

 * Redfield, Memoir on the danger* of ice in the Xorlh Atlantic Ocean. 



