Scientific Intelligence — Meteorology. l^o 



unpleasant symptoms of indisposition, whenever the wind shifted or 

 blew from that quartci*. 



William Fbaser, M.D. 

 Late of Demerara, 



4. Magdalena Bay in Spitzhergen* Magdalena Bay was the 

 first port in which we had anchored in the Polar regions, and there 

 were, of course, many objects to engage our attention. We were 

 particularly struck with the brilliancy of the atmosphere, the peace- 

 ful novelty of the scene, and the grandeur of the various objects 

 with which nature h^s stored these unfrequented region^. 



The anchorage is bounded by rugged mountains, which rise pre- 

 cipitously to the height of about 3000 feet. Deep valleys and glens 

 occur between the ranges, the greater part of which are either filled 

 with immense beds of snow, or with glaciers, sloping from the sum- 

 mits of the mountainous margin to the very edge of the sea. Owing 

 to the westerly direction of these ranges, and the precipitancy with 

 which they rise, the sun never shines upon the southern shore of the 

 bay, with the exception of a few hours about midnight during the 

 height of summer, and then only at a very low altitude ; whereas its 

 rays are exerted with the fullest effect upon the northern shore, which 

 occasionally radiates a heat of 57 or 60 degrees. There is, con- 

 sequently, the most marked difference between the sides of the bay, 

 both in point of climate and general appearance ; for while, on the 

 one, perpetual frost is converting into ice the streams of water occa- 

 sioned by the thawing of snow upon the upper parts of the moun- 

 tains which are exposed to the sun's rays, the other side is relieving 

 itself of its superficial winter crust, and refreshing a vigorous vege- 

 tation with its moisture. 



This process of contemporaneous thawing and freezing seems, as 

 I shall immediately take occasion to explain, to have been very in- 

 strumental in the formation of those stupendous glaciers, which strike 

 with astonishment and admiration every person who has an oppor- 

 tunity of beholding them. 



In Magdalena Bay there are four of these glaciers, two of 



which are situated on the southern shore, at the margin of the 

 sea. The third, which I have mentioned as bearing the appro- 

 priate name of ♦' the Hanging Iceberg," appears to have accu- 



* From Captain Beechey's delightful volume, entitled " A Voyage of Dis- 

 covery towards the North Pole,'* &c. London, 1843. 



