Another form under which the ice appears in the ocean is that of bergs,
which differ from the ice-fields in shape and origin. They are masses
projecting to a great height above the surface of the water, and have
the appearance of chalk or marble cliffs and mountains upon the deep.
They have been seen with an elevation of two hundred feet--a
circumference of two miles: and it has been shown by experiments on the
buoyancy of ice floating in sea water, that the proportion above the
surface is only about one-seventh of the thickness of the whole mass.
During the first expedition of Ross, he found an ice berg in Baffin's
Bay, at a distance of seven leagues from the land, which was measured by
a party under Lieutenant Parry. Considerable difficulty was experienced
in the attempt to land, as, in rowing round the berg, they found it
perpendicular in every place but one. When they had ascended to the
top, which was perfectly flat, they discovered a white bear in quiet
possession of the mass, who plunged into the sea without hesitation, and
effected his escape.
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