CHAPTEE X. 



rCEBERGS THEIR APPEARANCE AND FORMS THEIR CAUSE 



GLACIERS THEIR NATURE AND ORIGIN ANECDOTE OF SCORESBY 



RISK AMONG ICEBERGS M*CLURE 5 S EXPERIENCE. 



jjHEKE are not only ice-fields, ice-floes, &c., 

 in the polar seas, but there are ice-moun- 

 tains, or bergs. 



It was long a matter of uncertainty as to where 

 and how those immense mountains, that are met 

 with occasionally at sea, were formed. We are now 

 in a position to tell definitely where they originate, 

 and how they are produced. They are not masses 

 of frozen sea water. Their birth-place is in the 

 valleys of the far north, and they are formed by 

 the accumulation of the snows and ice of ages. 

 This is a somewhat general way of stating the 

 matter; but our subsequent explanations will, we 

 trust, make our meaning abundantly clear. 



Icebergs are found floating in great numbers in 

 the arctic seas. They drift southward each spring 

 with the general body of polar ice, and frequently 

 travel pretty far south in the Atlantic before the 



