444 OBSERVATIONS ON THE CURRENTS. 



On April 6th, 1890, an enormous flat-topped Berg, over two miles long, was seen 

 from the steamer Teutonic. 



On July 18th, 1891, the steamer Kansas passed an Iceberg 500 ft. long, with 

 two peaks 300 ft. high. 



On May 18th, 1892, the steamer Hafis is reported to have passed an Iceberg 

 about 600 ft. high and 4 miles long. 



Icebergs such as these would ground on the Grand Banks of Newfound- 

 land, and remain until further dissolved or broken up. Some consider 

 that these banks have been formed by the masses of soil and rock brought 

 by Drift Ice and Bergs during the course of ages. 



(449.) All agree that the Icebergs of the Arctic seas are originally formed 

 on terra firnia, from the snow and rains which, from the severity of the 

 climate, are never able to reach the Ocean in a fluid state, but which, in 

 the course of years, are transformed into a mass of Ice, and are then, 

 through some physical agency, similar to that by which the progress of 

 glaciers is effected, thrust forward into the sea, in the form of massy 

 mountains.* For the formation of Icebergs accordingly a tract of land 

 of a certain extent is necessary, in which the sea forms so few and small 

 creeks or inlets that rivers or watercourses of some magnitude must 

 necessarily be present. 



Where the above-mentioned condition exists, in conjunction with 

 the necessary temperature of the climate, the formation of Ice does not 

 proceed from certain mountain heights, but the whole country is covered 

 with Ice to a certain elevation; mountains and valleys are levelled to a 

 uniform plane ; and the river beds are concealed, as well as every vestige of 

 the original form of the coimtry. A movement, commencing far inland, 

 thrusts the outer edge of this mass of Ice forward toward the sea ; and 

 when it reaches the frith it may be seen to sink, and to diverge and even 

 extend out several miles. There the agency of the obliterated rivers may 

 be observed in the greater or lesser rapidity with which the matter in a 

 solid state is carried forward to the Ocean. The massy crust, still pre- 

 serving its continuity, proceeds from the shore, borne by the sea, until 

 some circumstance or other destroys the equilibrium, and breaks some 

 fragments off the outer edge, which is again thrust forward, and again 

 detaches new fragments, thus continually renewing the supplies from the 

 interior. 



A tract or body of land of the requisite size is, in the Northern 

 Hemisphere, only to be found in Greenland, and more especially in that 

 part which lies to the North of the Arctic Circle, where in the interior, 



* It is a well known fact that all the loe formed from snow upon the surface of land, 

 whore the heat of summer is incapable of melting and preventing its gradual increase, 

 has a tendency to extend and move downward, as water would do, according to the 

 same laws, in the case of rain instead of snow having fallen upon the surface. Those 

 masses of snow accumulated in high regions of mountain chains, even in the hottest 

 parts of the globe, gather in the valleys, which thus form the natural drainage for the 

 highlands, and being congealed into a compact body of Ice, move slowly down into 

 lower and warmer regions, till the increasing heat, by thawing them, sets a limit bo 

 their further spread. These masses of compact Ice spreading down through the valleya 

 or clefts, and constantly furnished with further supplies by the snow accumulated in 

 the surrounding highlands, are, in Europe, seen on the largest scale upon the Alps, wher« 

 they are known uuder the name of " Gletscher," or Glaciers. 



