2i6 FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 
lated the side of the berg we sailed past was at least thirty 
miles long, with an even height of little more than a hun- 
dred feet. There was but one break in the dead level line 
of its top, where it rose to perhaps two hundred feet or 
rather less, in the shape of something like an inverted 
bowl, with part of the front cut away. It appeared to me 
that this may have been raised by the berg grounding on 
a submarine peak. There were, however, no splits to 
suggest any sudden upheaval ; the curves were soft and 
gradual, and suggestive of a gradual accumulation rather 
than an upheaval. 
Tuesday, zoth Dec. — Last night we lay sheltering 
behind the berg— driving to leeward and steaming up 
to it again. A cold, strong gale is blowing on us over 
the top of the table-land of ice. It whistles through our 
rigging and brings stinging snow-showers. Snow and 
mist come down together, and blot out our sheltering berg 
from view. Masts and rigging are white with snow and 
ice — a wintry picture — yet this is the middle of the Ant- 
