ICEBERGS. 
Icebergs, or Ice Mountains, are enormous masses of ice which are 
formed in the Arctic Regions. They are of two kinds— -fixed and float- 
ing. A fixed iceberg, situated to the north of Horn Sound, is described 
as occupying eleven miles in length of the sea coast. It rose precipit- 
ously from the sea to the height of four hundred and two feet, and ex- 
tended backwards, towards the summit of the mountain, to about four 
times that elevation. Its surface formed a magnificent inclined plane of 
smooth snow ; but the lower parts in summer presented a bare surface 
of ice. 
Floating Icebergs are common in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, and 
are transported by currents to very considerable distances from the places 
where they were formed. In Hudson's Strait, Davis's Strait, Baffin's 
Bay, and other parts of the North Atlantic Ocean, they are very nume- 
rous, and of an enormous size. They usually have one high perpen- 
dicular side, with a gradual slope to the opposite side, which is very low. 
Their base is commonly much larger in extent than their upper surface. 
According to Captain Scoresby, the proportion of ice appearing above 
water is seldom less in elevation than one-seventh of the whole thickness, 
and when the summit is conical, the elevation above water is frequently 
one-fourth of the whole depth of the bergs. Some of these floating 
masses present the most fantastic forms : others resemble palaces, 
churches crowned with spires, and pinnacles, castles, towers, and arched 
gateways. A number of them seen at the distance of a few miles greatly 
resemble a mountainous country. Others have large caverns and hollows, 
in which the snow water accumulates. Hence the crews of whalers often 
obtain their supplies of fresh water ; while fragments of Icebergs picked 
up at sea also furnish ships with the same. The ice of these bergs has a 
fine green tint, verging on blue, but from a distance the whole mass 
appears to be composed of white marble, except in cases where the ice 
is mixed with earth, gravel, or sand, which alters its appearance. The 
state of the atmosphere also causes some variety in the appearance. 
Captain Ross says it is hardly possible to imagine anything more ex- 
quisite than the variety of tints which Icebergs display ; by night, as 
well as by day, they glitter with a vividness of colour that no art could 
represent : while the white portions have the brilliancy of silver, the 
colours of other parts are as various and splendid as those of the rainbow. 
In navigating the seas where Icebergs abound, the sailor can scarcely 
fail to be impressed with the wonderful scene around him, and to feel 
deeply conscious of the fact that nothing but the immediate protection 
of the Almighty can so direct these moving mountains as to save his 
vessel from being crushed between them. In crossing the Atlantic at 
certain seasons, ships are frequently exposed to this danger, and it is 
supposed that many ships which have been lost, and not since heard of, 
have met their fate by being crushed between two Icebergs. In a 
stormy sea Icebergs make a tremendous noise in rising and falling. 
They are frequently overturned, or, running aground, they fall to pieces 
with the noise of thunder, and crush whatever objects they meet with 
in their descent. Ships have thus been staved, and boats at a consider- 
able distance have been overwhelmed by the vast waves occasioned by 
the fall of an Iceberg. The awful effects produced by a solid mass, mil- 
lions of tons in weight, falling from a height of many hundred feet, 
can be more easily imagined than described. But the heat of a sum- 
mer's sun produces even more awful effects than a stormy sea. Captain 
Scoresby says that the Icebergs become hollow and fragile, large pieces 
break off and fall into the sea with an astounding crash, and the Iceberg 
is sometimes turned on one side, or even inverted. The sea is thereby 
put into commotion ; extensive fields of ice are broken up ; the waves 
extend, and the noise is heard to the distance of several miles, and some- 
times the rolling motion of the berg not ceasing, other pieces get loosen- 
ed and detached, until the whole mass falls asunder like a wreck. 
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