76 THE ANTARCTIC MANUAL. 
“Tf the cold is very intense, then such quantities of vapour rise 
from the water, so soon as it comes in contact with the air, that it 
looks as if a veil had been spread over the surface of the water. The 
masses of vapour which rise are so dense that it looks as if the open- 
ing of the ice were filled with hot water. 
“This does not, however, last long. The evaporation of the water 
which furnishes the vapour removes heat from the water and assists 
the cold of the air in producing a covering of young ice. In a very 
short time the surface of the water begins to get thick, and threads 
like a spider’s web run out from the edge of the old ice towards the 
middle. The covering which at first was thin and pasty acquires 
consistence and thickness; the production of vapour diminishes, and 
soon ceases. 
“ At this stage the salt-water ice is a pasty mass, which follows 
every surface movement of the water on which it floats. With in- 
creasing thickness this ice-mass acquires greater consistence and 
becomes tougher, but even with very intense cold it does not become 
sufficiently strong to bear the weight of a man with safety until 
after thirty to thirty-six hours. With a temperature of —40° C. 
the new ice, even after twelve hours, is still so soft that, in spite 
of its thickness, a stick can be easily thrust through it. On Decem- 
ber 13, 1872, the ice had in sixty hours attained a thickness of 
20 centimetres, the temperature being —35° C. But even with this 
thickness it is still in no way brittle, but is so pasty that it gives 
way under the weight of a man, without breaking. It gives the 
impression that one is walking on well-stretched leather, and it 
keeps this leathery character for a long time. Even after four- 
teen days, when its thickness is over half a metre, it does not break 
when exposed to moderate pressure, but crumples up with un- 
dulating folds. An expanse of young ice in this state looks as if 
the water, when in motion, had been surprised by the cold and every 
wave had suddenly been turned into ice. 
“This persistent viscosity is caused by the large amount of salt 
which remains in the upper layers of the ice frozen by intense cold, 
and of the moisture which it attracts. In the formation of each ice- 
crystal, the salt is completely excluded. When the ice formation 
takes place very rapidly, under the influence of very low tempera- 
ture, a large number of ice-crystals are formed in a very short time, 
and much of the salter brine remains entangled in them. Conse- 
quently the ice covering which first forms consists of loose ice- 
crystals, mixed with the brine from which they have been formed. 
As the cold continues, more ice is formed out of the brine, and the 
