I860.] 



LAMONT SPITZBERGEN-. 



429 



intervening flat muddy plain so usual in other parts of Spitzbergen*. 

 There are three glaciers on this part of the coast, all protruding into 

 the sea. The two southernmost ones are of no great size; but the third 

 is one of the largest and most remarkable glaciers in Spitzbergen, 

 or, I shoidd think, in any part of the world. It has a frontage towards 

 the sea of upwards of thirty English miles, and protrudes into it in 

 three great semicircular divisions ; its protrusion beyond the coast- 

 line seems to be about three or four miles. At the inland side it seems 

 to blend into the sky, and is (like nearly all the Spitzbergen glaciers) 

 connected with one vast interior glacier, which I imagine to occupy 

 about nine-tenths of the surface of the country. 



The middle division of this great glacier (of which I annex a 

 rough sketch) seems to have undergone, and to be still undergoing, 



Fig. 1. — Seaward edge of the Great Glacier (about thirty miles wide) 

 on the South- Eastern Coast of Spitzbergen. 





some great disturbance, — probably from rocks or some inequalities 

 underneath it, as for seven or eight miles of its frontage it is in- 

 describably rough and jagged, so that at a little distance, and espe- 

 cially when it is seen dimly through the fog, it resembles more than 

 anything a forest of pine-trees covered with snow. It has, of course, 

 no visible terminal " moraine ;" but an extensive submarine bank, 

 extending for about fifteen miles to seaward and along the whole 

 length of its face, may possibly have some connexion with the 

 glacier : the soundings on it seem to average about fifteen fathoms, 

 with a muddy bottom. This bank seems to afford good feeding for 

 the Walruses, as it is well known amongst the hunters as one of the 

 best places for these animals around Spitzbergen ; wc saw immense 

 numbers (on one occasion a herd of about 400) on the floating ice 

 over this bank. 



We lived for about a month within sight of this huge glacier, and 

 had ample opportunities of observing it in all weathers, as we fre- 

 quently rowed close along its face in the boats, [ts seaward face 

 presents an inaccessible precipice of ice along its entire Length, 

 These ice-cliffs vary from 20 to 100 feet high; and it is very dan- 

 gerous to row too near them, as pieces, from the size of a church 



downwards, arc continually being precipitated into die sea : many 

 of the larger fragments -round in tins shallow sea. 



Thorough central division ol this glacier continually (and more 

 especially in bright sunn\ days) emitted a .series of loud roaring 



* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xvi. p. 151. 



