152 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS. 



from the tops of the mountains to the bay ; the geological constitution 

 of those naked and declivitous mountains ; the scanty traces of vegeta- 

 tion, very ditferent from that of Algeria, stretched at their foot along 

 the beach, were the subjects of indefatigable study. M. Bravais, habit- 

 uated from chihlhood to climbing rocks, Avas the tirst to reacli tlie sum- 

 mit of a i)eak of dithcult access, on which the commission conferred Ids 

 name. The ofticers of the vessel constructed a detailed plan of tlie 

 Bay of Bell Sound, in concert, with MiM. Lottin and Bravais, who de- 

 termined the azimuth of the bay, the heighthof the mountains, and the 

 declination of the magnetic needle. 



But summer is of short duration in those high latitudes. On Angust 

 5, the comnmndant judged proper to give the signal of departure, and 

 the Eecherchc again came to anchor, on the 12th, in the port of llam- 

 nuu^fest. Careful observations of the temperature of the waters of the 

 sea at different depths were made during the passage by MM. Bravais 

 and IMartins, the former of whom, with Professor Siljestrom, Swedish 

 physicist. Professor Lilliehook, Norwegian physicist and astronomer, 

 and M. Bevalet, draughtsman, landed at Hammerfest to winter in Lap- 

 land. The corvette returned to Brest. 



The climate of the western coasts of Norway and of the coasts of 

 Lapland is of a remarkable mildness in comparison with that of other 

 points of the globe situated in the same latitude. The tepid waters of 

 the Gulf of Mexico, borne by the ocean current, known as the Gulf 

 Stream, diffuse a perpetual warmth and produce there a wholly ex- 

 ceptional temperature. From this it results that the deep arms of the 

 sea which, under the name of fiords, penetrate these singularly indented 

 coasts, are scarcely ever obstructed by ice. Navigation, instead of being 

 suspended for several months, as in the White Sea and the Baltic, is 

 there generally open ; and this circumstance gives to the capacious aiul 

 excellent ports of the hords of Lapland a certain strategic importance, 

 calculated to enhance the scientific interest which the exceptional cli- 

 mate would of itself inspire. But from its comparatively high tempera- 

 ture the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean is enveloped, during win- 

 ter, in almost permanent fogs, whose density is sufficient to shut out a 

 view of the heavens. The port of Hammerfest being too near the sea 

 and exposed to this disadvantage, our physicists chose for their winter 

 station the village of Bossekop, situated on a narrow shelf at the ex- 

 treme point of the Altenfiord, an arm of the sea which penetrates the 

 land to the distance of seventy kilouietres, whence it results that the 

 climate is there colder and the sky more frequently clear thau on the 

 shores of the ocean. At this place the four physicists established, Sep- 

 tember 1, the numerous instruments, telescopes, theodolites, gigantic 

 compasses, barometers, thermometers, actinometers, pyrheliometers, &c., 

 which had been landed from the corvette. These instruments had been 

 constructed at Paris by the best artists and on the most perfect models. 

 A small wooden structure, which might be taken down and rebuilt else- 

 where, formed the astronomical observatory, while five other cabins 

 served as meteorological and magnetical observatories, &c. 



Bossekop is situated in 09^ 5S' north latitude, and is therefore 3° 25' 

 beyond the polar circle. The sun does not rise there every day in the 

 year, and on that of the winter solstice, at noon, its center is 3^ 25' be- 

 low the horizon. After the middle of November its disk is no longer 

 seen entire, the lower part is lost to sight, and the luminary is wliojly 

 invisible after the 17th of that month. For some time a crepuscular 

 light illumines, toward mid-day, the southern arc of the horizon, but 

 toAA-ard the 21st of December even this glimmer vanishes. It reap- 



