Connecticut western news., 1872-01-26
Birth of an Iceberg.

eO III DOCK 1Orm llS experiences Ill Greenland, where he observed various phenomena which have never been so picturesquely and truthfully described hitherto. One of the most interesting scenes whish Dr. Hayes delineates, and which has all the charm of novelty and originality, relates to the process by which anice-berg is born:
 During the absence of the captain and myself, the artists had not been idle. They landed near the glacier, and with brush and camera had begun their work, The day was warm, the mercury rising to sixty-eight degrees in the shade, and the sun, coming round to the south, blazed upon the cold wall of ice. This must have produced some difference of terA- perature between the ice touched by the warm rays and that of the interior, which was in all probability several degrees be- low the freezing point, for towards noon there was an incessant cracking along almost the entire front. Small pieces were continually splitting off with explo- sive violence, and falling to the sea, pro- duced fine effect as the spray spouted up from the spot where they struck. Scarcely minute passed without dis turbance Of this kind. It was like fusi- Jade of artillery. Now and Nlen mass of considerable size would break loose, producing the impression upon the mirtds of the most courageous that our situation was one of great danger.
 By one o'clock everybody had come aboard for dinner and for while we all stood on deck watching the spectacle, and noting the changes that took place with intense eagerness. It was uniformly observed, among other curious pheno- mena, that when the ice broke off the fractured surface was a deep blue, and that if any ice, as sometimes happened, came up from beneath the water, 1t bore the same hue, but after a short exposure to the sun the surface changed, becoming an almost pure white with satin lustre
 Our situation for observation could not have been better chosen, and it is not likely that such an opportunity was ever enjoyed before-since it. not likely that a vessel ever rode to her anchor within a cables length of a glacier.
 After dinner the work was to have been resumed. The photographers hastened ashore, hoping to catch an instantaneous view of some of the falling fragments. Preparations were making for weighing anchor, steam was already up, and we were about to move over to the north side of the ford, when louder and more startling reports than any we had heard pealed forth one after another in quick succession. A number of large pieces had broken of, the falling of which dis turbed the sea to such an exte1t that the vessel rolled perceptibly, and waves broke with considerable force upon the shore. Then, without any warning, there came a report louder than all combined. It was evident that some extraordinary event was about to happen, and feel ing cf alarm spread through the ship The boat had landed the photograph party on the rocks within thirty yards of the glacier, and had showed off The captain shouted to the coxswain to hurry up" and had given the order to Cup anchor , but it was too late.
 The glacier was in violent state of commotion it seemed to be literally going to pieces. lis extreme point, at the centre, was undergoing disintegra- tion. The form of the glacier was there particularly picturesque, and we had never ceased to admire it, sketch it, and Photograph it. It exhibited @ perfect forest of Gothic spires, which originally ragged, had, by the action of the weather, been converted to something like regular shape, until it bore the appearance of a vast edifice constructed by the hands Of man. At the base of these spires there were numerous arches, more or less per- feet, which still further strengthened the illusion that it might be of human and not of natural formation.
 At the very extreme point there was one spire tn 1t stood out alone, lowering above the others It could not have been much less than two hundred feet high. The loud report to which I have referred came from this spire, which was going to pieces. It did not topple over, but went down as if the foundations ot the earth were giving way, and the spi1e was disappearing into the depths below. The effect was magnificent beyond de- scription. It did not sink instantane- ously, but lasted for at least quarter oi Q minute. The crumLling spire was quickly enveloped in great cloud oi spray, in the midst of which the summit , vanished, and was seen no more.
 Meanwhile other portions of the glacier were undergoing similar transforma- tion, influenced, no doubt, by the shock which had been communicated by this first disruption. Other spires less per. feet in their form, went down in the same manner, and great scales, from all parts of the front where there were nc . spires, split off, and fell with prolonged crash and hiss.
 Out from the midst of this din, and al : length drowning 1t completely, came a peal compared to which the loudest thunders of the heavens would be but a feeble sound. The whole glacier was enveloped in cloud, which streamed ul and along the icy wall, as one sees the mists rising from the abyss bel4W Niagara, and, receiving the rays of the sun, held rainbow lowering over this vortex. Out of this cloud rose great . white mass-at first slowly, then with 6 bound--and from out of the foam ana mist wave of vast proportions rolled away i'll a widening semi circle.
 Until this moment had watched every action of the glacier with close atten tion, but now the impulse of curiosity was divided with that of safety. The wave came down upon us with the speed of the wind, and the instinct of self-pre } servation drove me to seize the first Grn object could lay my hands upon, anG grasp it with all my strength. The wave occasioned by an earthquake only car compare with it in magnitude and force. It rolled beneath our ship, lifted hel upon its crest, tore her from her anchor ! age, and hurled her, as if she had beer the veriest toy, toward the rocks I hac not doubt, so far as there was time tt think at all, that she would be stove tc pieces or landed high and dry.
 But there was little time for reflection
 While the vessel was yet on her bean ends, ana we were all clinging to some
 thing or other for safety, a deluge O. water fell laundering upon the deck } and the ship was half buried.