246 FLOATING ICEBERGS. [cHAP. XI. 
with streams of ice descending to the sea-coast. Almost every 
arm of the sea, which penetrates to the interior higher chain, 
not only in Tierra del Fuego, but on the coast for 650 miles 
northwards, is terminated by “ tremendous and astonishing gla- 
ciers,” as described by one of the officers on the survey. Great 
masses of ice frequently fall from these icy cliffs, and the crash 
reverberates like the broadside of a man-of-war, through the 
lonely channels. These falls, as noticed in the Jast chapter, pro- 
duce great waves which break on the adjoining coasts. It is 
known that earthquakes frequently cause masses of earth to fall 
from sea-cliffs: how terrific, then, would be the effect of a severe 
shock (and such occur here*) on a body like a glacier, already 
in motion, and traversed by fissures! I can readily believe that 
the water would be fairly beaten back out of the deepest channel, 
and then returning with an overwhelming force, would whirl 
about huge masses of rock like so much chaff. In Eyre’s Sound, 
in the latitude of Paris, there are immense glaciers, and yet the 
loftiest neighbouring mountain is only 6200 feet high. In this 
Sound, about fifty icebergs were seen at one time floating out- 
wards, and one of them must have been at least 168 feet in total 
46° 40. 
Tyee 
aes 
Pai Se 
& | iia 
Mor u 
often ine 
; —50 
47° 00". 
* Bulkeley’s and Cummin’s Faithful Narrative of the Loss of the Wager 
The earthquake happened August 25, 1741. 
