832 BEPORT — 1893. 



some drifted away from the river on tlie flooded places, -which are often many 

 square miles in extent, some got lost in the adjoining^ forests, and was doubtless 

 stranded amongst the trees when the flood subsided, and some was piled up in 

 layers one upon the top of the other, which more or less imperfectly froze together 

 and formed icebergs of various shapes and sizes. Some of the icebergs which we 

 saw going down the main stream were of great size, and as nearly as we 

 could estimate stood from 20 to 30 feet above the surface of the water. These 

 immense blocks appeared to be moving at the rate of from 10 to 20 miles an 

 hour. The grinding together of the sharp edges of the innumerable masses of ice 

 as they were driven down stream by the irresistible pressure from behind produced 

 a shrill rustling sound that could be heard a mile from the river. 



The alternate marching of this immense quantity of ice up and down the 

 Kureika was a most curious phenomenon. To see a strong current up stream for 

 many hours is so contrary to all previous experience of the behaviour of rivers that 

 one cannot help feeling continuous astonishment at the novel sight. The monotony 

 which might otherwise have intervened in a ten-days' march-past of ice wa» 

 continually broken by complete changes^n the scene. Sometimes the current wa» 

 up stream, sometimes it was down, and occasionally there was no current at all. 

 Frequently the pack ice and ice floes wens so closely jammed together that there 

 was no apparent difficulty in scrambling across them, and occasionally the river 

 was free from ice for a short time. At other times the river was thinly sprinkled 

 over with ice blocks and little icebergs, whicli occasionally ' calved ' as they travelled 

 on, with much commotion and splashing. The phenomenon technically called 

 ' calving ' is curious, and sometimes quite startling. It takes place when a number 

 of scattered ice blocks are quietly floating down stream. All at once a loud splash 

 is heard as a huge lump of ice rises out of the water, evidently from a considerable 

 depth, like a young whale coming up to breathe, noisily beats back the waves that 

 the sudden upheaval has caused, and roclcs to and fro for some time before it finally 

 settles down to its floating level. There can be little doubt that what looks like a 

 comparatively small ice block floating innocently along is really the top of a 

 formidable iceberg, the greater part of Avhich is a submerged mass of layers of ice 

 piled one on the top of the other, and in many places very imperfectly frozen 

 together. By some accident, perhaps by grounding on a hidden sandbank, perhaps 

 by the water getting between the layers and thawing the few places where they 

 are frozen together, the bottom layer becomes detached, escapes to the surface, and 

 loudly asserts its commencement of an independent existence with the commotion 

 in the water which generally proclaims the fact that an iceberg has calved. 



Finally comes the last march-past of the beaten forces of winter, the ragtag and 

 bobtail of the great Arctic army that comes straggling down the river when the 

 campaign is all over — worn and weather-beaten little icebergs, dirty ice floes that 

 look like floating sandbanks, and straggling pack ice in the last stages of consump- 

 tion that looks strangely out of place under a burning sun between banks gay with 

 the gayest flowers, amidst the buzz of mosquitoes, the music of song birds, and the 

 harsh cries of gulls, divers, ducks, and sandpipers of various species. 



I have been thus difl"u3e in describing these scenes, in the first place, because 

 they are very grand; in the second place, because they have so important a bearing- 

 upon climate, one of the great factors which determine the geographical distribu- 

 tion of animals and plants ; and in the third place, because they have never been 

 sufficiently emphasised. 



The folio-wing Papers were read : — 



1. A Journey across Australia. By Guy Boothbt. 



Leaving Thursday Island, in Torres Straits, the author and one companion 

 sailed to Townsville. From Townsville they passed by land, through Charters 

 Towers, the Gilberton, Etheridge, and Croydon goldfields, to Normanton, on the 

 Norman River, Gulf of Carpentaria. Here saddle and pack-horses were obtained, 

 etores laid in, and the transcontinental journey to Adelaide commenced. The 



I 



