88 Observations on the Arctic Sea and Ice^ and 



Arctic Regions, presume to lay before the public at this time a 

 few observations. 



In these it is intended, first, to delineate the general effects of 

 the different seasons, on the Arctic Sea ; and, from the pheno- 

 mena which occur in those parts, which are familiar to us, to 

 form a few conjectures in regard to what may be the condition 

 of the unexplored regions, north and east from Spitzbergen ; 

 and, secondly, To consider the possibility of exploring these. 



Probable Slate of the Globe at the Pole. — It may be pre- 

 mised, that an erroneous opinion has long been cherished, — 

 that the vicinity of land is necessary, ere ice can be formed on 

 the sea, an opinion which seems still to bias the minds of a 

 few, notwithstanding the incontrovertible evidence of men of 

 science, who have spent almost half their lives in the inhos- 

 pitable regions of the polar seas. On this groundless opi- 

 nion some ingenious speculations have been framed, the purport 

 of which was, to demonstrate, that, if the Hyperborean Regions 

 are covered with water, that this sea must be navigable ; for, 

 there being no sheltering shores to aid the formation of ice, 

 it must be but sparingly produced, and easily dissipated, by the 

 warmth of a nightless summer. Although we are satisfied that 

 such a conclusion is erroneous, it cannot be denied that wind- 

 ward islands, mural coasts, or sheltering promontories, may fa- 

 cilitate the freezing process ; yet undoubtedly the wide ocean, 

 with all its disadvantages, may, under the rigours of a long 

 winter, receive its firm covering of ice. No doubt, preparation 

 for such an event is requisite, for the effects of many arctic win- 

 ters would be required to reduce the temperature of such an im- 

 mense body of water sufficiently, to admit of its surface being 

 frozen ; an event which, if the present motions in the ocean ex- 

 isted from the beginning, must have been much procrastinated, as 

 the perpetual efflux of cold water from the north is replaced by 

 streams of higher temperature from southern seas. It is proba- 

 ble, however, that the extent of these interchanges are much 

 circumscribed, and that the water of the Pole is beyond their 

 limits, — a conclusion authorised by their apparent course and 

 magnitude : for, the water which runs through Behring's Strait 

 iiUo the Frozen Ocean, and that which constitutes the norr 



