THE ARCTIC SEAS. 



109 



then a slight violence is sufficient to rupture them. 

 Seamen avail themselves of the shelter afforded by 

 ice-islands to moor the ship to them in storms, carry- 

 ing an anchor upon the ice, and inserting the fluke 

 in a hole made for the purpose. In the state just 

 alluded to, such is the brittleness of the substance, 

 that one blow with an axe is sometimes sufficient to 

 cause the immense mass to rend asunder with fearful 

 noise, one part falling one way, and another in the 

 opposite, often swallowing up the ill-fated mariner, 

 and crushing the gallant bark. 



6HIFS i>ESK7 IN ICE. 



