252 RliCAPlTULATlON. [chap. xi. 



and in the sea there, we should have a Volutay and all the 

 shells of large size and vigbrous growth. Nevertheless, 

 on some islands only 360 miles northward of our new 

 Cape Horn in Denmark, a carcass buried in the soil (or 

 if washed into a shallow sea, and covered up with mud) 

 would be preserved perpetually frozen. If some bold 

 navigator attempted to penetrate northward of these islands, 

 he would run a thousand dangers amidst gigantic icebergs, 

 on some of which he would see great blocks of rock borne 

 far away from their original site. Another island of large 

 size in the latitude of southern Scotland, but twice as far 

 to the west, would be "almost wholly covered with ever- 

 lasting snow," and would have each bay terminated by 

 ice-cliffs, whence great masses would be yearly detached : 

 this island would boast only of a little moss, grass, and 

 burnet, and a titlark would be its only land inhabitant. 

 From our new Cape Horn in Denmark, a chain of 

 mountains, scarcely half the height of the Alps, would run 

 in a straight line due southward ; and on its western flank 

 every deep creek of the sea, or fiord, would end in "bold 

 and astonishing glaciers." These lonely channels would 

 frequently reverberate with the falls of ice, and so often 

 would great waves rush along their coasts ; numerous 

 icebergs, some as tall as cathedrals, and occasionally loaded 

 with *' no inconsiderable blocks of rock," would be stranded 

 on the outlying islets ; at intervals violent earthquakes 

 would shoot prodigious masses of ice into the waters below. 

 Lastly, some missionaries attempting to penetrate a long 

 arm of the sea, would behold the not lofty surrounding 

 mountains, sending down their many grand icy streams to 

 the sea-coast, and their progress in the boats would be 

 checked by the innumerable floating icebergs, some small 

 and some great ; and this would have occurred on our 

 twenty-second of June, and where the Lake of Geneva is 

 now spread out ! * 



* In the former edition and appendix, I have g-iven some facts on the trans- 

 portal of erratic boulders and icebergs in the Antarctic Ocean. This subject 

 has lately been treated excellently by Mr. Hayes, in the Boston Journal (yo\. iv., 

 p. 426). The author does not appear aware of a case published by me ideograph- 

 ical Journal, vol. ix,, p. 528), of a gigantic boulder embedded in an iceberg in 

 the Antarctic Ocean, almost certainly one hundred miles distant from any land, 

 and perhaps much more distant. In the appendix I have discussed at length, 

 the probability (at that time hardly thought of) of icebergs, when stranded, 

 grooving and polishing rocks, like glaciers. This is now a very commonly 

 received opinion, and I cannot still avoid the suspicion that it is applicable even 

 to such cases as that of the Jura. Dr. Richardson has assured me, that the 



