Figure of the Earth. 153 



wholly to disappear, by combining the interposition of the greatest 

 interval between the measurements that the meridian of an hemi- 

 sphere will admit, would seem sufficiently probable to justify and 

 induce the undertaking. 



" Through the munificent liberality and splendid patronage of 

 the East India Company, India already presents a determination 

 of the arc contained between the 10th and 20th parallels : and as 

 a consequence of the political changes which have recently taken 

 place in South America, there is reason to hope, that the impe- 

 diments to a measurement between the equator and the 10th de- 

 gree, in the quarter of the globe best suited for the operation, 

 will speedily be removed. 



" In regarding the polar extremities of the meridian, the atten- 

 tion is naturally directed in the first instance to Spitzbergen, as 

 the land of highest convenient access in either hemisphere ; its 

 qualification, in that respect, is indeed far beyond comparison 

 with other lands, and is a point of very principal importance ; its 

 high latitude and conveniency of access do not, however, form its 

 only suitability ; for, on due consideration, it will be found to pos- 

 sess many very peculiar advantages for the operations of a trian- 

 gulation. 



" The general geological character of Spitzbergen is a group of 

 islands of primitive rock, the ordinary hills of which are from 

 1000 to 2000 feet in height, commanding generally extensive 

 views, and unencumbered with the vegetation which presents so 

 great an obstacle to the connexion of stations in the more genial 

 climates. The access to all parts of the interior is greatly facili- 

 tated by the extensive fiords, and arms of the sea, by which the 

 land is intersected in so remarkable a manner: these, whether 

 frozen over, as in the early part of the season, or open to naviga- 

 tion, as in the later months, form routes of communication suited 

 to the safe conveyance of instruments either in sledges * or in 

 boats ; the fiord, in particular, which separates the western and 

 eastern divisions of Spitzbergen, would be of great avail ; it ex- 

 tends in a due north and south direction for above 120 miles, with 

 a breadth varying from ten to thirty miles, and communicates at 

 its northern extremity, by a short passage across the land, with 

 the head of another fiord proceeding to meet it from the northern 

 shores of the island, and affording similar facilities for carrying 

 on either a triangulation, or a direct measurement, on the surface 



* Sledges with rein-deer trained to draft, and the Fins by whom they are 

 managed, may be hired for the season, at Mammerfest, in any number that 

 might be required. Spitzbergen abounds more in the food of the rein-deer, 

 and is more plentifully stocked with the animals themselves in their wild state, 

 than any other arctic country which I have visited. The Officers of the Griper 

 killed moie than Hfty deer on the small islands which form the northern part 

 of the harbour of Fairhavcn. 



