GREENLAND OR POLAR ICE, 289 



Banks of Newfoundland are occasionally crowded 

 with these wonderful productions of the frigid 

 zone. They have been met with as far south as 

 the latitude of 40° N., a distance of at least 2100 

 miles from their source. 



Icebergs numerous in the Antarctic Zone. 



The indefatigable Captain Cook, when exploring 

 the regions beyond the antarctic circle, met with 

 icebergs on every course, in great abundance, as 

 well a[s of vast size ; many, according to Forster, 

 ^cre one or two miles in extent, and upwards of 

 a hundred feet above the water, and might be sup- 

 posed to be sunk to ten times that depth. On the 

 26th of December 1773, they counted 186 ice- 

 bergs from the mast-head, whereof none were less 

 than the hull of a ship^ 



Icebergs useful to the Whale-Fishers. 



Icebergs, though often dangerous neighbours, 

 occasionally prove useful auxiliaries to the whale- 

 fishers. Their situation, in a smooth sea, is very 

 little affected by the wind : under the strongest 

 gale, they are not perceptibly moved ; but, on the 

 contrary, have the appearance of advancing to 

 windward, from every other decription of ice 

 moving so rapidly past them, on account of its 

 finding less resistance from the water, in propor- 

 tion as its depth beneath the surface is diminish- 

 ed. From the iceberg s firmness, it often affords 



