194 LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES. [XL 



such exercise a fairer or a more dangerous opportunity of dis- 

 tinguishing themselves could not be imagined. The super- 

 cargo or owner of the very first Dutch ship that ever came 

 to Spitzbergen, broke his neck in attempting to climb a 

 hill in Prince Charles's Foreland. Barentz very nearly 

 lost several of his men under similar circumstances ; and 

 when Scoresby succeeded in making the ascent of another 

 hill near Horn Sound, it was owing to his having taken the 

 precaution of marking each upward step in chalk, that he 

 was ever able to get down again. The prospect from the 

 summit, the approach to which was by a ridge so narrow 

 that he sat astride upon its edge, seems amply to have 

 repaid the exertion ; and I do not think I can give you a 

 better idea of the general effect of Spitzbergen scenery, 

 than by quoting his striking description of the panorama 

 he beheld : — 



; ' The prospect was most extensive and grand. A fine 

 sheltered bay was seen to the east of us, an arm of the same 

 on the north-east, and the sea, whose glassy surface was 

 unruffled by a breeze, formed an immense expanse on the 

 west ; the icebergs rearing their proud crests almost to the 

 tops of mountains between which they were lodged, and 

 defying the power of the solar beams, were scattered in 

 various directions about the sea-coast and in the adjoining 

 bays. Beds of snow and ice filling extensive hollows, and 

 giving an enamelled coat to adjoining valleys, one of which 

 commencing at the foot of the mountain where we stood 

 extended in a continued line towards the north, as far as 

 the eye could reach — mountain rising above mountain, until 

 by distance they dwindled into insignificancy— the whole con- 

 trasted by a cloudless canopy of deepest azure, and enlight- 

 ened by the rays of a blazing sun, and the effect aided by a 

 feeling of danger, seated as we were on the pinnacle of a rock 

 almost surrounded by tremendous precipices, — all united to 

 constitute a picture singularly sublime. 



" Our descent we found really a very hazardous, and in 

 some instances a painful undertaking. Every movement 



