306 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Juiie 1, 



the season of 1852, we were astounded by the constant booming 

 sounds that issued from whole fields of floating icebergs, often burst- 

 ing and turning over. To me the change appeared to be remark- 

 able, for I spent the months of June and July of 1850 in company 

 with a whole fleet of whalers there, sailing safely in the very place 

 which now we could no more enter with our ship, than navigate her 

 through the city of London half submerged in the sea, and all the 

 houses tumbling about and butting each other as in an earthquake. 

 At Cape York, one could count nearly two himdred icebergs in a 

 semicircle of twelve miles, all of which appeared to have been quite 

 recently detached from the glacier ; and in the upper part of Wolsten- 

 holme Sound, the icebergs, that had come ofi" from the three pro- 

 truding points of the glacier entering it, were so closely planted to- 

 gether, that it was not wdthout some difficulty and even danger we 

 advanced among them although aided by steam. 



Action of glacier's on the sea-bottom. — The eff'ect of bodies of such 

 dimensions on the rocks and mud at the bottom must be as extensive 

 as it is important. While passing up the Straits early in the season, 

 one rarely sees sea-weed floating in the water, but at a period some- 

 what later, after these natural reapers have sallied out to mow down 

 their crops, we meet with whole rafts of the produce of the sub- 

 marine forests of these regions floating down the Straits. The 

 stems of Laminaria are often found abraded, and their roots contain 

 shells and other animals, some of which appear to have participated 

 in the violent action that liberated the plants they sought as a pro- 

 tection. In every part of Davis' Straits, from Cape Farewell to Smith 

 Sound, on either side or mid-channel, from two to two hundred fa- 

 thoms, wherever the dredge has reached the bottom, these animals 

 have been found to exist, in spite of iceberg-action in its most intense 

 form upon their rocky or muddy habitats. Ascidians and Cirrhipeds, 

 and many other animals which attach themselves to the rocks at con- 

 siderable depths, are often found. The Echinoderms, which we 

 know are too slow in their motions to escape danger, swarm in those 

 seas. A. species of Sea- Urchin {Echinus neglectus) and brittle Stars 

 have been taken up from depths varying from ninety to two hundred 

 fathoms in Melville Bay, and from various other depths in all parts 

 of the Straits. Shells also occur, but they are sometimes found 

 broken, as some of the species of Mya, Saxicava, Cardium, Pecten, 

 and many others, taken from depths of seven to one hundred fathoms, 

 will show*. Except from the evidence afi'orded by plants and 

 animals at the bottom, we have no means whatever to ascertain the 

 effect produced by icebergs upon the rocks. Doubtless when they 

 contain earthy and stony matter they must scratch and groove the 

 rocks "as the diamond cuts the glass," and when they are impelled 

 along a muddy bottom, they cannot fail to raise moraines and leave 

 deep depressions in its otherwise smooth surface. Bvit it will be well 

 to bear in mind, that when an iceberg touches the ground, if that 

 ground be hard and resisting, it must come to a stand ; and the pro- 



* For an account of the Fauna of these seas, see Appendix, p. cci. vol. ii. 

 Sutherland's Journal. 



