PREPARATIONS TO RETURN. 
411 
perature as high as 64° in the sunshine, will gradu- 
ally round off and crease the edges, and at the same 
time will melt the portions of the mass which are 
above water. Its buoyancy increasing as its weight 
is reduced, the berg will now rise slowly, presenting a 
succession of new surfaces to the abrasion of the waves ; 
and thus we shall have the familiar mushroom or fun- 
goid appearance which is shown in many of the plates. 
The process continuing under all 
the modifications of wave action, 
while the opposing face of the berg 
varies with every change of its 
gravitating centre, we may have ec- 
centric resemblances to animated 
things sculptured in the ice, and at 
other times forms of classic symme- 
try, or the frets and garniture of 
inediaival art. 
Our sail through this fanciful archipelago was a 
most uncomfortable one. Our stoves had been taken 
down ; and the scurvy, exaggerated by the increased 
exposure to damp, began again to hear hard upon us. 
We devoured eagerly the seal, of which, by good for- 
tune, we had several re-enforcements ; but as the ex- 
citements of peril declined, the energies of the men 
seemed to relax more and more ; and I had reason to 
fear that we should not be able to resume our search 
effectively, until the health of our party had under- 
gone a tedious renovation. 
It had been determined by our commander that, we 
should refresh at Whale Fish Islands, and then hast- 
en back to Melville Bay, the North Water, Lancaster 
Sound, and W ellington Channel ; and certainly there 
was no one on board who did not enter heart and soul 
