THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 
69 
piece of walnut, supposed to have been derived from Japan or 
the eastern coast of Asia. The valuable collection of driftwood 
made by members of the late expedition, in all the bays to the 
north of Eobeson Channel opening towards the west, has not yet 
been examined by a scientific man, but we do not doubt for a 
moment that it likewise will turn out to be traceable to the 
north coast of America and to the Pacific, and not to the coast 
of Siberia. The current which carries driftwood will also carry 
ice-floes, and thus ocean-currents, the set of the tides, and the 
predominating westerly and north-westerly winds, noticed by 
Hall as well as by SirGr. Nares, all combine in accumulating vast 
masses of ice within the western half of the sea extending from 
Bering Strait to Eobeson Channel, and now appropriately named 
the “ Palseocrystic Sea,” or sea of ancient ice. The ice met with 
to the north of Eobeson Channel is evidently as formidable as that 
known to exist on the western coast of Banks’ Land and Prince 
Patrick Island. Captain Nares describes these ancient floes as 
being 80 feet in thickness and 1 to 4 miles in diameter. Few, 
even of the initiated, we are told, can distinguish these floes 
from icebergs, which they rival and sometimes exceed in size. 
Where they float into shallow water, they ground in 8 to 1 2 
fathoms, forming a fringe of detached masses of ice rising from 20 
to upwards of 60 feet above the sea-level, and affording protec- 
tion to a vessel between them and the land. But where the 
coast is steep, they extend close to the beach-line, and if the 
pressure is strong, as to the east of Eobeson Channel, near Cape 
Stanton, these huge masses are piled up into chaotic confusion. 
Captain Markham, who travelled over ice of this description, 
when making his effort to attain a high latitude, tells us that 
he met only rarely with large floes, having smooth surfaces. As 
a rule the heavy floes were of moderate size, their surface being 
uneven and covered with ice-humps, 10 to 20 feet in height, 
and their edges fringed by hummocks formed from fragments 
of the previous summer’s pack-ice, frozen into a rugged chaotic 
mass of angular blocks, 40 to 50 feet in height. The snow 
which covered these floes was scored in ridges, running east and 
west, in accordance with the prevailing winds, or was heaped up 
along the foot of the hummocks in deep drifts. The floes were 
frequently separated by fissures, covered by ice of one year’s 
growth, their general level being about 6 feet above this. On 
advancing towards the north, the hummocks became larger, and 
the snow-drifts deeper, until, at the furthest point reached, a 
perfect labyrinth of squeezed-up hummocks had to be faced. 
In the beginning or middle of July the whole pack of ice 
begins to drive backwards and forwards according to the winds 
and currents, its main course being towards Eobeson Channel, 
through which it escapes from the polar basin. As the season 
