36 THE ICEBERG. 



lent of the bergs) are detached, as the attraction of gravity overcomes 

 the cohesiveness of the ice. These have been seen and described 

 by Dr. Kane on many parts of the Arctic coast. I noticed them in 

 the shape of " miniature glaciers between the cliffs," (' Trans. Bot. 

 Soc.' ix. 13) at Sakkak, lat. 70° 0' 28" n., and on the Waigat shore 

 of Disco Island. In this latter locality they were the overflow of 

 the inland ice of the island. They are also seen in the little local 

 glaciers, where the bed they move in is shallow, and the seaward or 

 outward end high, as near Omenak, where, however, I did not see 

 them, but depend for my information on intelligent Danish officers 

 resident in that section. In Alpine regions, away from the coast, 

 the glacier, as it pushes its way down into warmer regions, either 

 advances or retreats, according to the heat of the summer ; but in 

 either case it gives off no great masses of ice from its inferior ex- 

 tremity. The same is true of the Arctic glacier when it protrudes 

 into some mossy valley without reaching the sea ; but when it reaches 

 the sea another force comes into operation. We have seen (1) the 

 inland ice-field emptied by (2) the glacier ; we now see the glacier 

 relieving itself by means of (3) the iceberg or " ice mountain," as 

 the word means. 



3. TJie Iceberg. — When the glacier reaches the sea (fig. 1, e) it 

 grooves its way along the bottom under the water for a considerable 

 distance ; indeed it might do so for a long way did not the buoyant 

 action of the sea stop it. For instance, in one locality in South 

 Greenland, in about 62° 32' N. lat., between Fredrikshaab and Fisk- 

 ernaesset, or a little north of the Eskimo fishing-station of Avigait, 

 and south of another village called Tekkisok, is a remarkable instance 

 of this. Here the " Iisblink," or the " ice glance " of the Danes 

 {i.e., the projecting glacier, though English seamen use the word 

 iceblink in a totally different sense, meaning thereby the " loom " of 

 ice at a distance), projects bodily out to sea for more than a mile. 

 The bottom appears to be so shallow that the sea has no effect in 

 raising it up ; and the breadth of the glacier itself is so considerable 

 as to form a stout breakwater to the force of the waves. 1 It was 

 long supposed that the. iceberg broke off from the glacier by the mere 

 force of gravity : this is not so. It is forced off from the parent 

 glacier by the buoyant action of the sea from beneath. The ice 

 groans and creaks ; then there is a crashing, then a roar like the 

 discharge of a park of artillery ; and with a monstrous regurgita- 

 tion of waves, felt far from the scene of disturbance, the iceberg 

 is launched into life. The breeze which blows out from the land, 



1 On this subject see also Nordenskjold, I. c, p. 364-5. 



