9S ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 



CHAPTEK II. 



DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF SOME OF THE PO- 

 LAR COUNTRIES*. 



SECT. I. 



Account of Spitzbcrgen and the Islands im- 

 mediately adja cent. 



Spitzbergen extends farthest towards the north 

 of any country yet discovered. It is surrounded 

 by the Arctic Ocean or Greenland Sea ; and though 



* When I first formed the design of presenting to the public 

 the result of my observations, made in the course of repeated 

 visits to the coast of Spitzbergen, and neighbouring regions, 

 it was my intention to give a general description of all the 

 countries lying within the Arctic Zone ; but the excellent 

 works of Sir George Mackenzie, and of the Revei-end Ebenezer 

 Henderson, on Iceland, which have recently appeared, and the 

 voyages of our navigators into Baffin's Bay, and the work of 

 Professor Giesecke on Greenland, which have been announced, 

 render it unnecessary for me to give any account of these 

 countries. I now, therefore, abridge my original plan, by ex- 

 cluding the intended description of Iceland and West Green- 

 land, and confine my remarks to those regions, of which, from 

 personal observation in general, I am better able to give an 

 original description. 



