94 Observatkytis on the Arctic Sea and Ice, and 



cidental currents are partial motions in the water, occasioned 

 by the action of the winds, or the movement of the larger 

 bodies of ice. Thus when fields and icebergs are driven from 

 the sea into deep bays, by strong gales, the dammed up water 

 is sometimes forced many feet above its usual level. Such a 

 phenomenon has been noticed by many navigators. I myself 

 saw decided testimony of such, when on shore at Spitzbergen, 

 near Cross Bay, in the vicinity of the Seven Icebergs. All 

 the low land in that neighbourhood, lying behind Fair Fore- 

 land, from its local situation, must be much exposed to inun- 

 dation. The flat on which I landed, was, in general, ten or 

 fourteen feet above the level of the sea, and some leagues in 

 circumference. All this bore testimony of having been re- 

 cently covered by the sea, from the pools of salt water, and the 

 remnants of salt water ice, from the drift timber, and the bones 

 of marine animals, which had been bleaching on the beach. 

 Nearly a mile from the shore, I also found a chest made of 

 rough deals, lying high among the gravel, which appeared to 

 have been lashed by the waves, and considerably chafed. On 

 opening it, I found it to contain a human skeleton, which had, 

 in all probability, been swept from its superficial grave by the 

 same cause which had transported it thither. On the north of 

 Spitzbergen, Captain Phipps found large fir-trees lying at a dis- 

 tance from the shore, 16 or 18 feet above the level of the sea. 

 And Leonin, who was sent to ascertain the nature of this island 

 by the Grand Marshals of Denmark, found a ship's mizen, about 

 a league inland. The tide there does not rise above four feet. 



The permanent current is that which is of most consequence 

 in opening the sea. This, coming through Behring's Straits, 

 doubles Skelatskoi Noss ; runs along the north of Asia, by No- 

 va Zembla ; and, meeting a feeble remnant of the Gulph Stream, 

 which had crept by the Islands of Scotland, and along the Nor- 

 wegian coast "*, flowP towards Spitzbergen ; and, having passed 



• Reasoning on the existence of the North-east Passage, some have laid 

 much stress on the nature and condition of the drift timber found in the North 

 Sea, fancying that it cannot reach Greenland but through the Frozen Ocean ; 

 but if we reflect on the direction of the northern branch of the Gulph Stream, 

 we can, without having recourse to unsatisfactory reasoning, account for the 

 mahogany of Honduras being found on the coast of Greenland. In Hke man- 

 ner, the worm-eaten timber may be conveyed thither, although such a condi- 



