J. Milne — Ice and Ice-ivork in Newfoundland. 305 



This mass, consisting of floe-ice surrounding icebergs, was travel- 

 ling southwards under the influence of the cold Arctic current, 

 which, coming from the northern regions, after coasting along by 

 Labrador, sweeps onward past Newfoundland, to sink beneath the 

 warmer waters of the Gulf-stream in more southern latitudes. 



On the coast of Newfoundland Icebergs generally make their 

 appearance about the 1st of Jauuar3'-. Their approach is heralded 

 by a number of smaller pieces. When we reflect upon the origin of 

 these bergs, it would appear that the greater number of them ought 

 to be disengaged from their parent mass, the glacier, in summer- 

 time. The semifluid mass, of which the glacier is made up, creeping 

 slowly, like a frozen river, down the valley by the aid of heat, 

 gravity, etc., has in summer-time its pace augmented by the incre- 

 ment it receives at this season of the year.^ It then pushes itself 

 rapidly forward into the ocean, and there by the buoyancy of the 

 water the projecting ice-mass is detached and floated off. Why, there- 

 fore, is it that the bergs are not seen off the Coast of Newfoundland 

 at the close of summer, or at the latest in the "fall" of the year? 

 The answer to this may be obtained from the inference of Sir 

 Edward Belcher, and other Arctic navigators, who tell us that in 

 ver}'- high latitudes the ice appears to be in motion much earlier 

 than it is farther to the South. On the 20th of May the western 

 side of Smith's Sound has been found to be quite open for navi- 

 gators in a boat, whilst Barrow Strait is not navigable till late 

 in August. The consequence of this would appear to be that 

 whatever ice may be set free far north early in the year is detained 

 in more southern latitudes until the fall. Another cause also 

 operating in keeping the ice off the coast until the spring of \\\Qi 

 year may be the wind. Although icebergs, with regard to their 

 motion, and the direction of the wind, often present curious 

 anomalies, yet this must to a slight degree be influential on 

 their wanderings. In the '-'fall" of the year the prevalent winds 

 on the North American side of the Atlantic are generally speaking 

 from the west, which tend to keep all bergs out at sea, and thus, 

 to observers on the land, they would be lost sight of ; but in the 

 spring of the year the winds are more or less northerly, which 

 would onl}?- aid the current in bringing the ice along shore. The 

 most apparent suggestion for the detention of the ice before reaching 

 the shores of Labrador and Newfoundland is of course the distance 

 it has to travel ; but considering the steady rate at which this is 

 carried on in the stream which bears them, the effects of wind, and 

 the delay in the breaking up of the Southern Arctic barrier must 

 have the precedence. 



TheoreMcal considerations on the Flotation of Icebergs. — The ice- 

 bergs 1 had the opportunity of seeing daily for several weeks whilst 

 in the neighbourhood of St. John's, although irregular in their 



^ Sir James Ross, from his observations in the Antarctic Seas, infers from the 

 greater difference between the temperatures of the sea and air in -winter-time than in 

 summer, tbat it is at the former season of tbe year tbat the greater number of bergs 

 are detacbed. 



DECADE I. — VOL. III. — XO. VII. 20 



