fl!!
C H A P . with the mud above it, or sometimes with a bank half way up it, as if
the superstratum had graduaUy slid down and accumulated against the
July, cliff. By the large rents near the edges of the mud cliffs, they appear
to be breaking away, and contributing daily to diminish the depth of
water in the bay.
Such is the general conformation of this line of coast. That particular
formation, which, when it was first discovered by Captain Kotzebue,
excited so much curiosity, and bore so near a resemblance to an
iceberg, as to deceive himself and his officers, when they approached the
spot to examine it, remains to be described. As we rowed along the
shore, the shining surface of small portions of the cliffs attracted our attention
and directed us where to search for this curious phenomenon, which
W'e should otherwise have had difficulty in finding, notw'ithstanding its
locahty had been particularly described; for so large a portion of the
ice cliff has thawed since it was visited by Captain Kotzebue and his
naturalist, that only a few insignificant patches of the frozen surface
now remain. The largest of these, situated about a mile to the westward
of Elephant Point, was particularly examined by Mr. Collie, who, on
cutting through the ice in a horizontal direction, found that it formed
only a casing to the cliff, which w'as composed of mud and gravel in a
frozen state. On removing the earth above, it was also evident, by a decided
hne of separation between the ice and the cliff, that the Russians
had been deceived by appearances. By cutting into the upper surface
of the cliff three feet from the edge, frozen earth, similar to that which
formed the face of the cliff, was found at eleven inches’ depth ; and
four yards further back the same substance occurred at twenty-two
inches’ depth.
This glacial facing we afterwards noticed in several parts of the
sound ; and it appears to me to be occasioned either by the snow being
banked up against the cliff' or collected in its hollows in the winter, and
converted into ice in the summer by partial thawings and freezings—or
by the constant flow of water during the summer over the edges of the
cliffs, on which the sun’s rays operate less forcibly than on other parts,
in consequence of their aspect. The streams thus become converted into
ice, either while trickling down the still frozen surface of the cliffs, or after
they reach the earth at their base, in which case the ice rises like a C I t o P .
stalagmite, and in time reaches the surface. But before this is com- ,— ^
pletcd, the upper soil, loosened by the thaw, is itself projected over the July,
cliff, and falls in a heap below, whence it is ultimately carried away by
the tide. AVe visited this spot a month later in the season, and found
a considerable alteration in its appearance, manifesting more clearly
than before the deception under which Kotzebue laboured.
The deserted village upon the low point consisted of a row of huts,
rudely formed with drift-wood and turf, about six feet square and four
feet in height. In front of them was a quantity of drift-wood raised
upon rafters; and around them there were several heaps of bones, and
skulls of seals and grampuses, which in all probability had been retained
comformably with the superstitions of the Greenlanders, who carefully
preserve these parts of the skeleton*. A rank grass grew luxuriantly
about these deserted abodes, and also about the edges of several pools
of fresh water, in which there w'ere some wild fowl. AA"e returned to the
ship late at night, and found her ready for sea.
* C r a n tz G r e e n la n d , V o l. I.