446 ARCTIC glaciers: 
througii massive glaciers. At the northern sweep of 
the indentation this ice- wall hecomes more imposing ; 
and in front of it we found a progeny of hergs, crowd- 
ed together so close that we could not count them. 
These glaciers, though differing widely in form from 
their pinnacled brethren of the Alps, have an impos- 
ing character of their own. So far as dimensions go, 
the entire mer de glace might repose on the slope of 
this single ice-hill, and Aletsch in one of its ravines. 
Indeed, the whole country between the two abutting 
headlands, and extending back as far as the eye could 
reach, was filled up with one grand frozen mass, so 
that the sea and its open fiords seemed scarcely gate- 
ways enough for the mighty reservoir to pour forth its 
bergs. The length of this curve was estimated by Mr. 
Murdaugh at eighteen miles; but the ice extended 
many miles further along the coast without change. 
We could not wonder, after this, at the enormous 
quantities of bergs which lay before us. At the es- 
carped base of the glacier they were jammed and jum- 
bled together in every variety of confusion ; some of 
the mountain character with which we were familiar, 
others a congeries of rubbish, and illustrating every 
possible condition of libration. All three vessels were 
in a cul de sac of floe-cemented bergs, and were obliged 
to tie up and wait upon their movements. 
The Alpine glaciers have engrossed, it seems to me, 
the field of scientific dissertation somewhat unduly. 
Those which crowd the western coast of G-reenland 
have perhaps a higher interest ; growing up, as they 
do, in a climate which is independent of altitude, be- 
sides being altogether superior in magnitude of scale. 
The southernmost cape of this so-called peninsula is 
nearly in the latitude of 59°, some 500 miles south of 
