220 
GREENLAND VOYAGE. 
the south-eastern cape; the whole of which, though 
some of them reached the magnitude of 150 feet, 
or more, above the surface of the sea, or probably 
1000 feet in thickness, and a mile in circumfe¬ 
rence, were mere dismemberments of these nume¬ 
rous and extensive glaciers. The site w r as, indeed, 
one of the best that could be imagined for their 
formation. Facing the north, the range of moun¬ 
tains behind forms a constant skreen, which, du¬ 
ring ten or twelve hours at the height of the 
day, keeps the glaciers in the shade, and permits 
an uninterrupted accumulation of every moist de¬ 
position upon them, without ever being subjected 
to the height of summer temperature, with which 
all the other aspects of the Sound are more or less 
visited *. 
The tint of this coast, at a little distance, is 
bister-brown. This general colour, contrasted with 
its vast beds of ice, and extensive tracts of snow, 
and connected with the beautiful structure of the 
mountains, their elevated character, and irregular 
summits, is productive of a highly pleasing and 
picturesque scene. 
The rocks of which this coast is chiefly com- 
* The formation of these arctic glaciers is particularly 
described in the account of the Arctic Regions, vol. i. 
p. 107, 25S. 
