GLACIERS. 
301 
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1 
These glaciers are the principal characteristic of the 
scenery in Spitzbergen; the bottom of every valley, 
in every part of the island, is occupied—and generally 
completely filled by them, enabling me in some measure 
to realize the look of England during her glacial period, 
when Snowdon was still being slowly lifted towards the 
clouds, and every valley in Wales was brimful of ice. 
But the glaciers in English Bay are by no means the 
largest in the island. We ourselves got a view—though 
a very distant one—of ice rivers which must have been 
more extensive ; and Dr. Scoresby mentions several 
which actually measured forty or fifty miles in length, 
and nine or ten in breadth; while the precipice formed 
by their fall into the sea, was sometimes upwards of 
400 or 500 feet high. Nothing is more dangerous than 
to approach these cliffs of ice. Every now and then, 
huge masses detach themselves from the face of the 
crystal steep, and topple over into the water; and woe 
be to the unfortunate ship which might happen to be 
passing below. Scoresby himself actually witnessed 
a mass of ice—the size of a cathedral, thunder down 
into the sea from a height of 400 feet; frequently 
during our stay in Spitzbergen we ourselves observed 
