Page:Journal of a Voyage to Greenland, in the Year 1821.djvu/127

Rh angles, some of which were forty feet high; its front was a bluff and craggy barrier of several feet in height, from which it was evident that large masses had been separated. In parts of this line, bays of considerable depth had been formed, gradually sloping from the margin of the sea to the higher termination. The wind increasing, and the ice indicating general movement, we sailed to a considerable distance and lay to.

A gale coming on, we kept under the lee of the ice-field, which not only screened us from its fury, but kept us undisturbed by the swell of the sea, so that the ship to my great comfort lay in a state of comparative rest. I had now leisure to examine with attention the formation of that curious phenomenon, a field of ice, which exhibited proofs of its receiving annual accumulations by distinct tiers or layers, formed most probably by the melted snow of preceding winters. Several very heavy floes were seen drifting past us at a great rate, and I could not help imagining, with feelings of horror, the possibility of our being caught between two of them and encountering the inevitable destruction, that from their immense pressure must necessarily follow.

A fog with drifting snow, that, on minute investigation, displayed a beautiful specimen of regular hexagonal form, rendered the day unfavourable for fishing; and therefore a mass of ice, to which it would be safe to moor, was anxiously looked for; after much search, a piece in a