$06 GREENLAND OR jpOLAR ICE. 



ables him to persevere without restraint, calcii-^ 

 lating on an easy return* As one- half of the fish-^ 

 ing season is often spent in the ingress, were the 

 regress as arduous, the sailing would occupy the 

 whole time : besides, the return would be render- 

 ed doubly hazardous by the prevalence of the 

 summer fogs, which are thick in the extreme, 

 and sometimes continue for days together, with- 

 out any relaxation of density. 



Were the barrier of ice not passable, the haunts 

 of the whales could not be attained ; and were 

 the regress not aided by natural facilities, every 

 attempt to prosecute the whale-fishery with ef- 

 fect, would be attended with imminent danger ; 

 I may say, with almost certain destruction. 



On the Properties, peculiar Movements, and Drift- 

 ing of the Ice. 



1. The ice always has a tendency to separate 

 during calms. This property holds, both with 

 regard to field and drift ice, and seems to arise 

 from a repelling tendency between the individual 

 masses. Hence it is, that when the heavy ice is 

 released from its confinement by the dissolution 

 of the intruding bay ice, a calm generally spreads 

 its pieces abroad, and allows a free passage for 

 ships, which before could not be urged forward 

 with all the assistance to be derived from the 

 wind combined with every effort of art. From 



