40 
Geology. 
and we appear to have passed it at the height of the discharg- 
ing season. In Disco Bay, however, the numbers mounted up 
into the hundreds ; indeed at the time of our first visit, in the mid- 
dle of July, the surface of the bay, forty miles in width, was plen- 
tifully studded with the singularly varied and beautiful bergs for 
which the Jacobshaven Glacier is famous. The majority of these, 
however, were not very massive, though some of gigantic size 
towered above the great white fleet. As the inland ice crowds 
through the Jacobshaven conduit with unusual force and rapidity, 
it is greatly crevassed, and the numbers and picturesqueness of 
the discharged masses is but an expression of the intensity of 
the fracturing that precedes and attends the birth of the bergs. 
North of Disco Island we encountered a still more magnificent 
procession of icebergs emanating from the Umanak Fiord. These 
were much larger and more tabular than those derived from the 
Jacobshaven Glacier. Thirty or forty of the larger order were 
in view at once, attended by perhaps an equal number of smaller 
ones that might fall within the limit of bergs, as distinguished 
from mere blocks resulting from the breakage of bergs or the 
minor products of the original discharge. The large members of 
this procession were truly massive, and if the magnificent pro- 
portions of the train were maintained for any long period, the 
total output must indeed be large. There could scarcely be said 
to be a trace of it, however, when we passed its track on our return 
in early September. The larger part of these bergs probably 
came from the Great Karaiak Glacier. A more scattered proces- 
sion moved parallel to this on the north, which appeared to come 
from the straits between Ubekyendt Island and the Svarten Huk 
Peninsula. 
In Melville Bay a very considerable number of icebergs were 
seen, some of which had escaped from the fixed ice along the 
shore and made their way considerable distances out into the mov- 
ing ice. By reason of the fact that the ice in Melville Bay re- 
mains during a large part of the year— and indeed, the coastal 
belt of ice which embraces the larger number of icebergs, fre- 
quently remains, it is said, from season to season — it is difficult 
to form an impression whether the discharge of ice is really 
