THE ARCTIC SEAS. 119 
face of the ocean. There is scarcely a more beauti- 
ful object than one of the towering icebergs that so 
abound in these regions, and that annually come 
down upon the southern current, into the temper- 
ate zone. I have seen numbers of these floating 
islands, of dazzling whiteness, on the coast of New- 
foundland, whither they are brought every spring 
out of Baffin’s Bay. They do not long endure their 
transition, but soon melt away in the warm waters of 
the Atlantic, though they are sometimes seen on the 
coast of the United States, as far down as Phila- 
delphia. In watching some small ice-islands, which, 
having drifted into the ports of Newfoundland, have 
grounded in shoal water, I have been surprised to 
observe how very rapid is their dissolution, even in 
the month of April. Some large ones, however, are 
frequently seen in the bays of that country, even in 
July. They are often of vast dimensions: one seen 
by Ross, in Baffin’s Bay, was estimated to be nearly 
two miles and a half long, two miles wide, and fifty 
feet high. Of course this estimate respects only that 
part which is visible above the surface of the water ; 
but this is a very small portion of its actual bulk. 
The relative proportion of the part which is exposed 
to that which is submerged, varies according to the 
character of the ice: in Newfoundland the part 
under water is usually considered to be ten times 
greater than that exposed, but if the ice be porous, 
it is not more than eight times greater; while, on the 
other hand, Phipps found that of dense ice, fourteen 
parts out of fifteen sunk. These floating icebergs 
are various in form; sometimes rising into pointed 
