y 



WATER AND theOCEAN 



fiear the words of thofe that fpeak j and as the Ice-pieces are thrown 

 one upon another, ice-mountains are formed by it. And I obferv- 



r 



ed very frequently, in the years 1772 and 1773, when we were 

 amongft the ice, malTes which had the moil evident marks of fuch 

 a formation,, being, compofed of ftrata of fome feet in thicknefs. 



L 



This is in fome meafure confirmed by the ilate in which 



i 



fack MarkofF found the ice at the diilance of 420 miles fr 



the Co- 



the 



-- . ■- 



Sibirian coafts. The high malTes were not found formed, as is 

 fufpedied in the S.eco?idSuppkme?2t to the 'Probability of reaching the 

 North Pole, p. 143-145, near the land, under the high cliffs, but far 



fea : and when the 



climbed by Mai 



kofF, nothing but. ice,, and no veftiges of land appeared as far as the 

 eye could reach. The high climates near the Poles, are likewiie, 



v 



fubjed to heavy falls offnow, of feveral yards in thicknefs, which 

 grow more and more compa(5l, and by thaws and rain, are formed 

 into folid ice, which, increafe the llupendous ilze of the floating 



ice-mountains» 



Th^fecond objed:ion againft the freezing of the ocean into fucli 

 ice as is found floating in it, is taken from the opacity of ice formed 



r 



in falt-water; becaufe \^a^ largefl: maifes are commonly tranfparent. 

 like cryflial, with a fine blue tind:, caufed by the reflediion of the 



fea. 



This argument is very fpecious, and might be deemed unan- 

 fwerable to thofe, who are not ufed to cold winters, and their ef 



5 



fe<fls5- 



93 



ICE. 



s 



/ 



