1G2 BENEFITS OF ICEBERGS. 



communicated, and from which it issued, was an 

 unsurveyed mer de glace, or sea of ice, of appa- 

 rently boundless dimensions ; and from one part of 

 this great cliff he saw long lines of huge bergs float- 

 ing slowly away. 



Here, we think, is ice enough and of sufficient 

 dimensions to account for the largest bergs that 

 were ever beheld. 



It will be at once seen, then, that icebergs, 

 though found floating in the sea, are not necessarily 

 of the sea. They are composed entirely of fresh 

 water, and arctic ships can at any time procure a 

 plentiful supply of good soft drinkable water from 

 the pools that are formed in the hollows of the 

 bergs. 



The risk of approaching icebergs in the arctic 

 regions is not so great as when they are found 

 floating further south ; because when in their native 

 regions they are comparatively tough, whereas on 

 their southern journeys they become more or less 

 disintegrated in fact, the blow of an axe is some- 

 times sufficient to cause a rent, which in its turn 

 will induce other rents and fallings asunder, so that 

 the whole mass runs the risk of being entirely 

 broken up. Hence the danger of ships, in certain 

 circumstances, venturing to anchor to them. Never- 

 theless this is a common practice sometimes a 

 necessity among discovery ships and whalers. It 

 is a convenient practice too ; for many a vessel has 

 been saved from absolute destruction by getting 



