The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-10-22
ICE DIFFERS IN THE ZONES
ARCTIC AND ANTARCTIC OCEANS
HAVE THEIR PECULIARITIEs.
These Are Particularly Noteworthy
In the IceberGs-Formation Are
Distinctive and Have Not Been
Explainod-Perils Of Navtgators.

Antarctic summer from that Of
the Arctic. In a region where
IL the summer temperature rare
ly reaches above freezing point.
where the a,tenuated nature Of tho south
ern continent allows free play to the polar
currents. and where the sun fails TO bring
out anything that might be called a spring
or summer flower II follows that the ice
conditions are vastly different from those
OF the northern hemisphere. where al a
corresponding latitude summer clothes the
land with flowers and fills the air With
innumerable bees These widely different
conditions are easily seen by a passing
comparison OF the northern berg with the
southern. The former speedily becomes
pinnacled and yro;eSQue as il journeys
south, while the latter retains its original
tabular form in very low ATTITUDES. II is
only when the southern berg reaches a
distance north where the sun At last be-
gins 10 make his heat felt that il rhaws
and presents the great needle points and
guster.ng cascades observed 80 frequently
within the Arctic circle.
The difference of temperature between the
summer Of the Antarctic and that Of the
Arctic Is due TO the fact that. while the
latter region Is a polar basin, surrounded
by vast tracts OF land which retain the
summer heat the former Is a compar ativs-
~ small tract Of land In tremendous ex
very quickly.
Capt. Cooks Voyage.
The home and origin Of the southern berg
are a matter full OF romantic interest. In
1774 Capt Cook sailed down into the un-
known Antarctic regions and after terrible
hardsh!ps reached a spot where he saw q
snow-white brightness in the clouds to
the south. and he knew he was near the ice
fields. Four hours later he was stopped
by great ice barrier in latitude Il degrees
south. where the mountains Of ice, rising
one above the other, tier upon tier. into
the distance, were lost in the clouds OF the
polar sky. The desolate grandeur OF that
icy coast appalled, the great navigator. and,
seeing no possibility OF pushing to the pole
over those impossible mountains, he con-
tented himself with having gone farther
than anyone had ever been before and. ne
thought, as far as any man could so. He
speaks Of vast glaciers descending from
the interior and Of ice islands and floats
near the coast, and from his remarks IL 10
easily seen that he had found the home
of the southern bergs.
The glaciers, coming slowly down from
the interior being launched between the
mountain sides Of this icebound continent
al coast, produced the tabular icebergs by
swapping of from time to time at their
extremities. and these once set free. sailed
rents This barrier. discovered by Cook.
was evidently an outstanding coast line OF
the Antarctic continent, for more than half
a century later Sir James Ross In the
Erebus and the Terror found similar bar
rier, probably continuous with that OF
Cook. at a far higher altitude Of IS de-
grees south Here at the feet OF the great
volcanoes Erebus and Terror so named
after his ships. Ross found a further homo
OF the barg.
Limitless in Extent.
This coast OF Victoria Land was a grand
scene OF glaciers launching their gigantic
ends into the sea. From the coastline,
where the walls Of ice stood as sheer cliffs
hundreds OF feet high, the mountains in
land ranged one over the other. culminat-
ing in the volcanic peaks 12.oo0 feet high.
And down the grooves OF these mountains
came the slow-moving glaciers to people
the southern seas with the floating dan
gers which render exploration there a thing
OF intense risk to the boldsst and most
skillful navigator. Ross says this ice bar
rier Is perhaps more than 900 feet thick
a mighty and wonderful object
As the ice barrier so the bsrgs. When
they are set free they are solid fragments
OF the parent glacier. with tops like billiard
tables and sides like cliffs, often measuring
as much as 20 feet in height and several
miles in extent. They maintain their tab
ular character generally and their vast
size until they either collide and brake up
or suffer thaw in low ATTITUDES. In the
former alternative they supply the material
for the floating icepacks. and IN the latter
they assume strange shapes turreted, pin
nacled and undermined. as. like glistening
fairy palaces. they slowly dissolve beneath
the sunlight. Cook mentions several in
teresting bergs with which he made ac-
auaintaDcc One was fifty feet high and
half mile In circumfe renee. He says: 1T
was Nat at the top and It's sides rose in
perpendicular direction. against which the
sea broke exceedingly high" This berg
must have been from a barrier not very
far south. for the further such a barrier