CHAPTER I.

THE FROZEN OCEAN _page_ 1-10

1. The ice-sheet of the Arctic region.—2. “Leads” and “ice-holes” defined.—3. Pack-ice and drift-ice.—4, 5, 6. Various designations of ice-forms.—7. Estimate of the thickness of ice.—8. Rate of its formation.—9. Old ice.—10, 11. Characteristics of young ice.—12. Results of the unrest in Arctic seas.—13. The snow-sheet described.—14. Colour of field-ice.—15. Characteristics of sea-ice.—16. Specific gravity of ice.—17. Irregularity of the forms of ice.—18. Temperature of the Arctic Sea.—19. Noise caused by disruption.—20. The ice-blink.—21. The water-sky.—22. Evaporation.—23. Calmness of the sea beneath the ice.—24. Overturning of icebergs.—25. Change of the sea’s colour near ice.—26. Icebergs described.—27. Noise caused by the overturning of icebergs.