SPITZIJEIIGEN AND GREENLAND. 37 



icikles ; on the inside thereof I saw the delicatcst blew that 

 can be imagined ; it w^as bigger than our ship, and some- 

 what higher than our stern, but how deep it was under w^atcr 

 I cannot exactly tell. Near unto the Muscle-hat en, a great 

 ice-hill came driving towards our ship, that was as high as 

 our poop, and went so deep under water that it took up our 

 anchor, which lay fifteen fathoms deep. 



I have also seen several others, and of other figures, viz., 

 round and four square tables, wdth round and blew pillars 

 imderneath : the tables was very plain and smooth at the 

 top, and white with the snow ; at the sides hung down a 

 great many icikles close to one another, like a fringed table 

 cloth ; I believe that near forty men might have sat about it. 

 I have seen of tables these with one foot, and wdth two or 

 three pillars, and abundance of scales swarm about. The 

 dishes that furnisht this table, were a piece of ice like an 

 horse's head, and a swan ; I doubt they were but salt. You 

 must observe that this ice bccometh very spungy by the 

 dashing of the sea, and from thence grows salt, like sea- 

 water, and thence also changeth its colour, viz., from the 

 sea and rain-water mix'd with it ; for you shall commonly 

 see the water look blew or yellow, if you walk under water 

 with your eyes open and look upwards. 



The other ice, as far as it is above water, is of a taste like 

 other ice, but that below the sea, salt, like the sea- water. 



^\ hen we arrived at Spitsbergen, the ice at Relienfelt was 

 as yet fixed, but a few days afterwards it was driven away 

 by the winds. 



The ice begirts these countries on all sides ; as the Avind 

 sets either from the Island of Jolin Maijen, Old Greenland, 

 and Nova Zemhla. We found at this time that the ice 

 reached from the other side of Spitzbergen, and the ships 

 sailed between the ice and the land as if it were in a river. 



As soon as this ice is drove thither by the winds, the ships 

 must give way or go into the harbour, until the winds have 



