254 CRUISE OF THE NEPTUNE 



great central ice-cap flow down into the sea. The fiords and 

 bays are open early in summer, while the current sweeps north- 

 ward all the ice accumulated along the coast during the winter, 

 leaving an open sea, usually early in July, as far as Melville 

 bay. 



A portion of this southern current evidently comes from the 

 North Atlantic, and the remainder sweeps around the southern 

 end of Greenland, bringing with it a stream of Arctic ice 

 brought south on the Arctic current of east Greenland. This 

 stream of ice is soon deflected from the west coast, and appears 

 to melt in the southeastern part of Davis strait, as there is a 

 lane of open water separating the southern ice from that of the 

 west coast. 



The distance from Wilcox head to Cape York, across Melville 

 bay, is 180 miles ; that from the centre of this line to the head 

 of the bay is upwards of 100 miles. Much of the shore-line of 

 the bay is still unexplored, but sufficient is known to state that 

 it is an almost unbroken line of glaciers, which constantly dis- 

 charge large icebergs into the waters of the bay. A large 

 number of rocky islands break its surface, and the bottom 

 appears to be very uneven, with much shallow water ; in conse- 

 quence, many of the icebergs are grounded in the shallower 

 parts of the bay. The islands and grounded bergs break the 

 winds and waves, and so allow of the formation of heavy sheets 

 of ice between them during the winter months, while in the 

 summer they act as anchors for this sheet, or floe ice. As before 

 stated, the southerly current carries a great part of the shore ice 

 of central Greenland north to Melville bay, where it acts as an 

 aggravation to the congestion of ice there, so that it is always 

 late in the season before the bay is even partly clear of ice, 

 which must pass westward, until being influenced by the 

 northern current from Smith sound, it is deflected south and 

 goes to increase the great mass of ice known as the ' middle 



