274 GREENLAND OR POLAR iCE. 



It is generally allowed, that all that is necessary 

 in low temperatures for the formation of ice, is 

 still water : here then, it is obtained. In every 

 opening of the ice at a distance from the sea,^ the 

 water is always as smooth as that of a harbour j 

 and as I have observed the growth of ice up to a 

 foot in thickness in such a situation, during one 

 month's frost, the effect of many yeairs, we might 

 deem to be sufficient, for the formation of the 

 most ponderous fields. 



There is no doubt, but a large quantity of ice 

 is annually generated in the bays, and amidst the 

 islands of Spitzbergen : which bays, towards the 

 end of summer, are commonly emptied of their 

 contents, froni the thawing of the snow on the 

 mountains causing a current outwards. But this 

 will not account for the immense fields which are 

 so abundant in Greenland. These evidently come 

 from the northward, and have their origin between 

 Spitzbergen and the Pole. 



On the Generation of Fields, 



As strong winds are known to possess great in- 

 fluence in drifting off the ice, where it meets 

 with the least resistance, may they not form open- 

 ings in the ice far to the norths as well as in lati- 

 tudes within our observation ? Notwithstanding 

 the degree in which this cause may prevail, is un- 

 certain, yet of this we ate assured, that the ice 



