to some extent,
disputed--at least there is a difference of opinion as to the _manner_
in which the iceberg leaves its parent glacier. There is no dispute as
to its origin. This difference will be explained shortly in a quotation
from Dr Kane's work; meanwhile, in support of the present theory, let
us listen to the words of one who saw with his own eyes something
similar to what has been described. Dr Scoresby, than whom a better
man never explored the arctic seas, says:--

"In July 1818, I was particularly fortunate in witnessing one of the
grandest effects which these polar glaciers ever present. A strong
north-westerly swell, having for some hours been beating on the shore,
had loosened a number of fragments attached to the iceberg, and various
heaps of broken ice denoted recent shoots of the seaward edge. As we
advanced towards it, with a view of proceeding close to its base, I
observed a few little pieces fall from the top; and while my eye was
fixed upon the place, an immense column, probably fifty feet square, and
one hundred and fifty feet high, began to leave the parent ice at the
top, and, leaning majestically forward, with an accelerated velocity
fell, with an awful crash, into the sea.

"The water into which it plunged was converted into an appearance of
vapour or smoke, like that from a furious cannonading. The noise was
equal to that of thunder, which it nearly resembled. The column which
fell was nearly square, and in magnitude resembled a church. It broke
into thousands of pieces. This circumstance was a happy caution, for we
might inadvertently have gone to the very base of the icy cliff from
whence masses of considerable magnitude were continually breaking!"

Now, this incident suggests the probability, that, had the face of the
glacier projected into deep water, the mass which broke off might have
fallen into the sea without being broken to pieces, and might have
floated away as a berg. We confess, however, to be partial to the view
expressed by some writers, that the great glaciers continue year by year
to thrust their thick tongues out to sea, until the projecting masses
reach water sufficiently deep to float them, when they are quietly
cracked off from their parent and carried away without any fall or
plunge. The following remarks by Dr Kane will make this more clear.
Writing of the iceberg, he says:

"So far from falling into the sea, broken by its weight from the parent
glacier, i