J 06 THE OCEAN. 



is concealed by perpetually-accumulating ice, while 

 the same substance covers to a great extent the sur- 

 face of the ocean. There is scarcely a more beautiful 

 object than one of the towering icebergs that so 

 abound in these regions, and that annually come 

 down upon the southern current into the temperate 

 zone. I have seen numbers of these floating islands, 

 of dazzling whiteness, on the coast of Newfoundland, 

 whither they are brought every spring out of Baffin's 

 Bay. They do not long endure their transition, but 

 soon melt away in the warm waters of the Atlantic, 

 though they are sometimes seen on the coast of the 

 United States, as far down as Philadelphia. In 

 watching some small ice-islands, which, having drifted 

 into the ports of Newfoundland, had grounded in 

 shoal water, I have been surprised to observe how 

 very rapid is their dissolution, even in the month of 

 April. Some large ones, however, are frequently 

 seen in the bays of that country, even in Jiily. Tliey 

 are often of vast dimensions : one seen by Ptoss, in 

 Baffin's Bay, was estimated to be nearly two miles 

 and a half long, two miles wide, and fifty feet high. 

 Of course, this estimate respects only that part which 

 is visible above the surface of the water ; but this is 

 a very small portion of its actual bulk. The relative 

 proportion of the part which is exposed to that which 

 is submerged, varies according to the character of the 

 ice. In Newfoundland, the part under water is 

 usually considered to be ten times greater than that 

 exposed, but if the ice be porous, it is not more than 

 eight times greater ; while, on the other hand, Phipps 

 found tliat of dense ice, fourteen parts out of lifteep 



