36 VOYAGE INTO 



When such ice-fields break they part asunder, M'hich 

 causeth a whirlpool in the sea, where all the out-parts press 

 to the centre, and by that means the pieces of the ice-fields 

 raise themselves up, and dash and grind themselves against 

 each other. 



When we came to seventy-one degrees in the month of i 

 April, we saw first the ice, and so we sailed up and down by 

 the ice until that month was spent, for so early in the year 

 nobody dares venture himself into or amongst the ice, by 

 reason of the stormy winds ; and sometimes the ice is still 

 fixed and stands firm, and therefore there is but a few whales 

 seen, for underneath the ice they cannot breathe. 



Into the ice Ave sailed at seventy-seven degrees and twenty- 

 four minutes, and drove with that sheet of ice towards the 

 south. In this month, and also in the following month of 

 May, are the most iclialcs seen here, which run towards the 

 cast, and we follow them all along by the ice to Spitzhergeii. 



Near to the land smaller ice-fields are seen, because the 

 ice cannot give way by reason of the land, which causeth 

 greater grinding and breaking, and upon that account smaller 

 ice than is in the open sea. Yet, for all this, some greater 

 ice mountains are seen there that stand firm on the shear, 

 and never melt at bottom, but increase every year higher and 

 higher, by reason of the snow that falls on them, and then 

 rain freezes, and then snow again alternately ; and after this 

 manner the icy-hills increase yearly, and are never melted 

 by the heat of the sun at the top. 



These ice mounts change their first colour in time by the 

 air, by rain, and by tlie clouds ; and the fairest blew that 

 can be seen is in the cracks of these ice-hills. From these 

 same ice-hills oftentimes break off great pieces, that swim in 

 the sea, and is more compact than the other ice by far. I 

 once saw one of these pieces that Mas curiously worked and 

 carved, as it were, by the sea, like a church Avith arched 

 windows and pillars, the doors and windows hung full of 



