cr own readers

48 ABOUT ICEBERGS.
state of unstable equilibrium, and as fra gments are
broken oft; it frequently turns over with a hoarse
roar, All sailors know how dangerous are icebergs
in this condit ion. They call them "growle r~:' and
gi\'e th em a wid e berth.
6. Greatly reduced in size, th e berg still holds on
i' eourse, and approaches th e banks of Xewfoundland.
Now it enters th e warm water of th e Gulf Stream,
and its di olut ion is at hand. Cascades are streaming
down its sides; caverns are worn right through
its centre; small lakes are form ed on its summit ;
rents and fissures are constantly widening ; finally ,
it falls to pieces with a noise lik e thunder. Its
shattered remains are scattered far find wide, and
speedily melt in the warm waters. The berg is no
more.
7. Such is th e life-history of all iceberg. "When
it reaches a certain stage-when it becomes" rotten,"
as th e sailors say-it is especially dungerous. Th en
a slight cause will make it break up into fra gments,
raising huge billows which migh t swamp a vessel.
Th e concussion of the air from the firing of a gun, or
even the noise made by a steamer, has been kn own
to cause th e breaking up of an iceberg.
8. Sometim es a berg has projections or spurs underneath
th e water, stretching far out from its base, and
a vessel th at ventures too near may strike on one of
th ese unseen ice-reefs. In July 1890, a steamer with
tourists on board, who were anxious to have a near
view of a large berg, approached so close that she
struck on one of its projecting spurs. Th e shock and
th e weigh t of th e ve el brok e off th e spur, and at the
same time a huge piece of the berg, many hundreds