633 



1C E. 



Ice. to the imminent danger of precipitating it in that di- 

 '"""Y"^^ rection to the bottom. 



Concave sinuosities in the border of a large mass of 

 flat ice are called bights. They often aSord a conve- 

 nient refuge to ships, but sometimes they give occasion 

 to detentions of the most inconvenient and dangerous 

 kind. 



We have now to notice some changes of a grander 

 and more terrific description, to which the ice is sub- 

 jected. That powerful tendency to undulation of the 

 surface, communicated by the agitation of the adjoining 

 liquid surface of the ocean during a continued storm, 

 Effects of a wn ' cn ' s denominated a ground smell, sometimes pro- 

 ground duces a sudden disruption of extensive fields. The 

 swell ice, when thin, accommodates itself to the surface by 



bending ; but, when several yards in thickness, it re- 

 fuses to yield beyond a certain extent, and is broken 

 into pieces with dreadful explosions. The best account 

 that we know of the appearances presented on such oc- 

 casions is given by a party of Moravian missionaries, 

 who were engaged in a coasting expedition on the ice 

 along the northern shore of Labradore, with sledges 

 drawn by dogs. They narrowly escaped destruction from 

 one of these occurrences, and were near enough to wit- 

 ness all its grandeur. We extract it from the recent 

 interesting compilation of the Rev. Dr Brown, on the 

 History of the Propagation of Christianity, vol. ii. p. 51. 

 " The missionaries met a sledge with Esquimaux turn- 

 ing in from the sea, who threwout some hints that itmight 

 be as well for them to return. After some time, their 

 own Esquimaux-hinted that there was a ground swell un- 

 der the ice. It was then scarcely perceptible, except on 

 lying down and applying the ear close to the ice, when 

 a hollow disagreeable grating noise was heard ascend- 

 ing from the abyss. As the motion of the sea under 

 the ice had grown more perceptible, they became 

 alarmed, and began to think it prudent to keep close to 

 the shore. The ice also had fissures in many places, 

 some of which formed chasms of one or two feet; but, 

 as these are not uncommon even in its best state, and 

 the dogs easily leap over them, they are frightful only 

 to strangers. As the wind rose to a storm, the swell 

 had now increased so much that its effects on the ice 

 were extraordinary and really alarming. The sledges, 

 instead of gliding smoothly along as on an even surface, 

 sometimes ran with violence after the dogs, and some- 

 times seemed with difficulty to ascend a rising hill. 

 Noises, too, were now distinctly heard in many direc- 

 tions like the report of cannon, from the bursting of 

 the ice at a distance. Alarmed by these frightful phe- 

 nomena, our travellers drove with all haste towards the 

 shore ; and, as they approached it, the prospect before 

 them was tremendous. The ice having burst loose 

 from the rocks, was tossed to and fro, and broken in a 

 thousand pieces against the precipices with a dreadful 

 noise ; which, added to the raging of the sea, the roar- 

 ing of the wind, and the driving of the snow, so com- 

 pletely overpowered them, as almost to deprive them of 

 the use both of their eyes and ears. To make the land 

 was now the only resource that remained, but it was. 

 with the utmost difficulty that the frightened dogs could 

 be driven forward; and, as the whole body of the ice 

 frequently sunk below the summits of the rocks, and 

 then rose above them, the only time for landing was 

 the moment it gained the level of the coast, a circum- 

 stance which rendered the attempt extremely nice and 

 hazardous. Both sledges, however, succeeded in gain- 

 ing the shore, and were drawn up on the beach, though 



not without great difficulty. Scarcely had they reach- Ice- 

 ed it, when that part of the ice from which they had ^"V* 1 

 just escaped burst asunder, and the water rushing up 

 from beneath instantly precipitated it into the ocean^ 

 In a moment, as if by a signal, the whole mass of ice 

 for several miles along the coast, and extending as far 

 as the eye could reach, began to break, and to be over- 

 whelmed with the waves. The spectacle was awfully 

 grand. The immense fields of ice rising out of the 

 ocean, clashing against one another, and then plunging 

 into the deep with a violence which no language can 

 describe, and a noise like the discharge of a thousand 

 cannon, was a sight which must have struck the most 

 unreflecting mind with solemn awe. The Brethren 

 were overwhelmed with amazement at their miraculous 

 escape, and even the pagan Esquimaux expressed gra- 

 titude to God for their deliverance." 



Ice in that elevated form which is called the iceberg, Icebergs 

 demands particular attention. This term is applied to described, 

 such elevations as exist in the vallies of the frigid zones ; 

 to those which are found on the surface of fixed ice ; 

 and also to ice of enormous thickness and stupendous 

 height in a floating state. The vallies of West Green- 

 land are filled with icebergs to an extent never yet ex- 

 plored. The seven icebergs in the vallies on the west 

 coast of Spitzbergen, were supposed by Mr Scoresby, 

 when seen by him, to present a perpendicular front 

 300 feet high. Their green hue, and glistening splen- 

 dour, exhibited a pleasing variety, and added a richness 

 to the prospect by the contrast which they presented 

 with the magnificence of the neighbouring snow-co- 

 vered mountains. From these icebergs enormous 

 overhanging masses are sometimes detached by their 

 own weight, as from the glaciers of the Alps. This 

 separation is aided by a softness of cohesion which they 

 acquire in the thawing season ; and it is also believed 

 that quantities of water pent up within them exert, in 

 the act of freezing, an expansive force, which produces 

 disruption. Masses of this kind, in a floating state, are 

 most plentiful in Baffin's Bay, where they are sometimes 

 two miles long, and two-thirds of a mile broad, bristled 

 with varied spires, rising more than 100 feet above the 

 surface, while the base extends 1 50 yards beneath it. 

 Icebergs of an even surface, elevated 30 yards above 

 the sea, and five or six square miles in area, are very 

 common. Those of East Greenland are of inferior size. 

 The largest that Mr Scoresby ever saw was 1000 yards 

 in circumference, flat on the summit, and nearly 20 

 feet above the level of the sea. This difference proba- 

 bly arises from the more sheltered situation of the large 

 bays of West Greenland. 



We have reason to believe that many icebergs are 

 formed at a distance from any land. This appears from 

 the account which Muller gives of an expedition made,^ 

 in the year 1714, by Markoffa Cossack, after he had 

 been foiled by drift ice in an attempt to explore the 

 ocean to the north of Russia. This adventurous person 

 set off with a party from the coast of Siberia at the 

 mouth of the river Yani, in North Lat. 71, in the 

 month of March, to travel on the surface of the ice ta 

 the north pole in sledges drawn by dogs. He pro- 

 ceeded for seven days till he reached the 78th degree, 

 when his progress was impeded by ice elevated into 

 prodigious mountains, from the summits of which he 

 could discern nothing but mountainous ice to the north- 

 ward. He therefore returned, and, after some hardships 

 and losses, reached the coast of Siberia on the 3d of A- 

 pril, having in 19 days travelled 800 miles. To what 



