FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 351 
were in almost unknown seas. Suddenly the fog lifted ; 
we were completely surrounded with bergs, the re- 
sounding murmur of which had been reaching us 
through it. 
Bergs. — Antarctic bergs are quite different from those of 
the North. In the Arctic regions they are tall, irregular, 
and pinnacled ; in the South they are flat-topped. They 
may be of any length. We saw many three or four miles 
long, one twelve miles long, and one, a floating island of 
ice, thirty miles long. Their usual height above the water 
is about 150 feet, and their depth beneath the surface 
must be seven or eight times as great as this. Those 
bergs that are not tabular are weather-worn varieties of 
the tabular. We came across several more varied in 
shape than usual. One was beautifully conical, and some 
had very well marked stratification ; we saw a castellated 
berg looking like part of some strange fortification ; one 
was hewn into beautiful Doric pillars, others were in the 
form of grand arches, others still had great caves hollowed 
outf.of them, which, in some cases, were connected with 
vertical holes piercing their upper surface. Through 
these holes, when a heavy swell beat up the caverns, 
columns of water and spray were ejected, often to a great 
height. Other bergs overhung their water-worn bases. 
Strange cracks and fissures abounded. Although these 
bergs are brilliant with whiteness, yet they glow with 
colour. It is beyond my power to describe them. I 
have counted from the deck as many as sixty-five at 
one time. The field-, floe-, and pack-ice is similar to 
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