10 INTRODUCTION. Ch^p. I. 



by the shores of Asia, of Europe, and of America. 

 Of Asia, from Nova Zembla, in 50° E. long 6 ., to 

 East Cape in Behring's Strait, in 170° W. long 6 . : 

 that is, 140° extent of coast. In Europe, from 

 Nova Zembla, in 50° E., to Baffin's Bay, about 70° 

 W., an extent of coast equal to 120°; and in Ame- 

 rica, from the last point, 70° W., to Cape Prince of 

 Wales, 168° W., in Behring's Strait, an extent of 

 coast equal to 100°. These, including the opening 

 of Behring's Strait, and that between Greenland and 

 Spitzbergen, comprise the whole circle of 360° ; an 

 extent of coast which no other detached sea in the 

 world can boast of. It is a circle of two thousand four 

 hundred geographical miles in diameter, and seven 

 thousand two hundred miles in circumference, con- 

 sidering the latitude of 70° to be the average boun- 

 dary line, which it nearly is, by taking the inlets of 

 the land to balance the outlets of the sea. And, in 

 order to satisfy the malcontents regarding the cur- 

 rents exhausting its waters, it may perhaps be suf- 

 ficient to state what are its supplies. They consist 

 of the constant influx of a stream through Beh- 

 ring's Strait, of five or six great rivers from Asia — 

 the Obi, the Jenisci, the Lena, the Indigirka, and the 

 Kolima. Europe supplies the waters of the Dwina, 

 with numerous streams from the coasts of Norway 

 and Lapland, and the eastern coasts of Greenland, 

 and western coast of Baffin's Bay ; and America pours 

 in several copious streams from the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, with the Mackenzie, the Hearne, or the Copper 



