• S02 OREENLAND OR POLAR ICE. 



Point Look-Out, a parallel motion of the ice, 

 leaves no opening or evidence of its change of 

 place ; for here, the ice meeting with no obstruc- 

 tion to cause it to divide, moves on in a solid body, 

 retained firm and unbroken by the tend.cious solder 

 of the interjacent bai/ ice. 



In the month of May, the severity of the frost 

 relaxes, and the temperature occasionally ap- 

 proaches within a few degrees of the freezing 

 point : the brine then exerts its liquefying energy, 

 and destroys the tenacity of the bay ice, makes 

 inroads in its parts by enlarging its pores into 

 holes, diminishes its thickness, and, in the lan- 

 guage of the whale-fisher, completely 7^ots it. 

 The packed drift ice is then loosed ; it submits to 

 the laws of detached floating bodies, and obeys the 

 slightest impulses of the winds or currents. The 

 heavier having more stability than the lighter, 

 an apparent difFerenceof movement obtains among 

 the pieces. Holes and lanes of water are formed, 

 which allow the entrance and progress of the 

 ships, without that stubborn resistance offered ear- 

 lier in the spring of the year. 



Bay ice is sometimes serviceable to the whale- 

 fishers, in preserving them from the brunt of the 

 heavy ice, by embedding their ships, and occa- 

 sioning an equable pressure on every pan of 

 the vessel : but, in other respects, \l is the greiit- 

 est pest they meet with in all their labours : it is 

 troublesome in the fishery, and in the progress to 



