GREENLAND OR POLAR ICE. 



land, " filling the valleys between the high moun- 

 tains," and generally exhibiting a square perpen- 

 dicular front towards the sea. They recede back- 

 ward inland to an extent never explored. Mar- 

 tin, Crantz, Phipps, and others, have described 

 those wonders of nature, and all agree as to their 

 manner of formation, in the congelation of the 

 sleet and rains of summer, and of the accumulated 

 snow, partly dissolved by the summer sun, which^ 

 on its decline, freezes to a transparent ice. They 

 are as permanent as the rocks on which they rest : 

 For although large portions may be frequently se- 

 parated, yet the annual growth replaces the loss, 

 and probably, on the whole, produces a perpetual 

 increase. I have seen those styled the Seven Ice- 

 bergs, situated in the valleys of the north-west 

 cosat of Spitzbergen ; their perpendicular front 

 may be about 500 feet in height ; the green co- 

 lour, and glistening surface of which, form a 

 pleasing variety in prospect, with the magnificence 

 of the encompassing snow-clad mountains, which, 

 as they recede from the eye, seem to *■ rise crag 

 above crag," in endless perspective. 



Large pieces may be separated from those ice- 

 bergs in the summer season, when they are par- 

 ticularly fragile, by their ponderous overhanging 

 masses, overcoming the force of cohesion ; or other- 

 wise, by the powerful expansion of the water, 

 filling any excavation or deep-seated cavity, when 

 its dimensions are enlarged by freezing, thereby 



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