S20 Mr Scoresby on the Seven Iceher'gs of Spitzhergen. 
ed and cracked all over. This roughness appeared to be occa- 
sioned by the melting of the snow, some streams of water being 
seen running over the surface ; and others, having worn away 
the superficial ice, could still be heard pursuing their course 
through sub-glacial channels to the front of the iceberg, where, 
in transparent streams, or in small cascades, they fell into the 
sea. Ill some places, chasms of several yards in width were 
seen, in others they were only a few inches or feet across. One 
of the sailors who attempted to walk across the iceberg, impru- 
dently stept into a narrow chasm filled up with snow to the ge- 
neral level. He instantly plunged up to his shoulders, and 
might, but for the sudden extension of his arms, have been 
buried in the gulf. 
In the first ages of the Spitzhergen fishery, when the ships 
frequented the bays and harbours, and sometimes moored close 
to the shore, many serious disasters were occasioned by the fall 
of pieces of icebergs. An instance is recorded by Purchas in 
liis Pilgrimes.” One of the Russia Company’s ships, which 
was on the whale-fishery in the year 1619, was driven on shore 
in Bell Sound, by ice setting in from the sea. The Captain, 
with most of his crew and boats, was absent at the time of the 
accident ; but on the first intelligence, caused his boats to be 
hauled up on the ice, and proceeded on board to endeavour to 
get the ship off. After they had been using every endeavour 
for this purpose during about an hour, a main piece ^of an ad- 
joining ice-cliff came down, and almost overwhelmed the vessel 
and her crew in its ruins. The shock must have been tremen- 
dous. The ice which fell, struck the ship so high and so for- 
cibly, that it carried away the foremast, ‘‘ broke the main-mast,” 
sprung the bowsprit, and flung the. ship over with such vio- 
lence, that a piece of ordnance was thrown overboard from un- 
der the half-deck ; and the Captain and some of the crew were 
projected in the same way. The Captain, notwithstanding his 
imminent danger, with fragments of ice flying in all directions, 
and the masts of the sliip falling around him, escaped unhurt ; 
but the mate, and two more of the crew, were killed, and many 
others were wounded. 
Icebergs are probably formed of more solid ice than glaciers; 
but in every other respect they are very similar. The ice of 
