spitzber'gen. 95 



summits, sometimes round-backed, frequently ter- 

 minating in points, and occasionally in acute peaks, 

 not unlike spires. An arm of a short mountain- 

 chain, however, forms the southern Cape or Point- 

 look-out ; but a low flat, in the form of a fish's 

 tail, of about forty square miles in surface, consti- 

 tutes the termination of the coast. Other promon- 

 tories lying nearly north and south* are of a similar 

 nature. The middle of Charles' Island is occupied 

 by a mountain-chain of about thirty miles in length, 

 rising on the west side fi-om the sea, and on the 

 eiist from a small stripe of table-land, only a few 

 feet above the level of the ocean. In some parts 

 of the coast, indeed, the table-land, from which the 

 mountains take their rise, is even below the level 

 of the high water mark, and is only prevented 

 from being covered, by a natural sea-bank of shingle, 

 thrown up in many places to the height of ten or 

 fifteen feet. 



To the northward of Charles' Island, the moun- 

 tains are more disposed in chains than they are to 

 the southward. The principal ridge lies nearly 

 north and south ; and the principal valley ex- 

 tends from the head of Cross Bay to the northern 

 face of the country, a distance of 40 or 50 miles. 

 An inferior chain of hills, two or three leagues 

 from the coast, runs parallel with the shore, from 

 which lateral ridges project into the sea, and termi- 

 nate in mural precipices. Between these lateral 



