-ICE. weniently lifted into the boat; ' and then they’ are piled up on the
■ quarter-deck, where the fait-water, adhering' to its outfrde, foon
■ drains away j and, as the contact o f the deck and warmer atrno-
, fphere-cbntribïttês to diffolve fame part o f the ice, the reft becomes
[ quite-frelh. With this ice the boiler is filled, that it may the
•more readily be diffolved. Other ice is broken into fuch pieces
as will go through the bung-holes into the water-calks; and when
there i s not room for more, the interftices are filled up, with the
water from the boiler, which foon melts the fmall pieces o f ice in
the calk.
When we came to leeward o f extenfive portions o f fmall drifting
■ ice, or fuch as the Greenlandmen call packed, i. e. On theedgês Of
■ which, by the fea and preifure o f the ice, fmall pieces are forced
up, we always found the fea fmooth j and this was the appearance, -
■ when .we entered the loofe ice on January the 17th, 177-3; in 67°
-15' South latitude; but, on the weafher-fide-of the ice, there was
■ ■ a great fwell and high fuff. Whenever we approached large trails
o f folid ice, we-obferved, on -the horizon, a white reflexion from the
■ fnow and ice, which-the Greenlandmen call the blink o f the ice': fo
Tthat feeing-this phaenomenon appear, we were fure to be within a
■ few leagues o f the ice ; and it was at that time likewife, that We
• commonly noticed flights o f white petrels o f the fize o f pigeons,
which we called fnowy petrels, the common fore-runners of -the
ice. : It
It has. been obferved, that the large mafles o f ice floating in the
ocean, cool the air confiderably; fo that, upon approaching them,
the change may be fenfibiy felt.
On the n t h of December, 1772, on a clear mild day, before
we reached a large mafs o f ice, o f about half a mile in length, and
a hundred' feet high, the thermometer on deck, fixed on the cap-
ftan,.. was at 41°. When we were to leeward o f it, the thermometer
funk to 374° ; and when we had paffed it, which was at about
five o’clock in the afternoon, it had rifen again to 4 i °k| On December
the 13 th, 1772, in the morning early, the thermometer
was at about 32”, and it had continued to fnow all the night and'
morning. In the morning, between feven and eight o’clock, we
approached a great many ice-iflands, forae o f which were o f v-aft
extent. A t eight o’clock the thermometer pointed at 31 i ° ; it remained
there when we were j ufl to leeward o f the largefi: of them;
and, after we had pafled it, the thermometer did not rife higher than
31 i v I believe the cold was not leifened, becaufe the deck being
wet from the fnow, caufed a great evaporation, which cooled the
a ir : and we were likewife every where furrounded by large ice-
mafles, which had fo much cooled the atmofphere all round, that
it remained in the fame temperature. Both thefe inftances feem
therefore to prove, that the ice-mafles contribute confiderably towards
cooling the atmofphere.
IC E .
L The