102 ACCOUNT OF THE AHCTIC REGIONS. 



ted in the interior by the chain of nioTintains, of 

 perhaps 3000 to 3500 feet in height, which follows 

 the line of the coast. They are exactly of the na- 

 ture and appearance ol glaciers ; they commence 

 at the margin of the sea, where they frequently con- 

 stitute a considerable precipice, and extend along 

 the valley, which commonly rises with a gentle 

 slope, until they are either terminated by the brow 

 of the mountain in the back^ground, or interrupted 

 bv a precipitous summit. Besides these icebergs, 

 there are some, equally large, near the north-west 

 angle of Spitzbergeu, in King's Bay and in Cross 

 Bay, and some of much greater magnitude near 

 Point-look-out, besides many others of various sizes, 

 in the large sounds on the western side, and along 

 the northern and eastern shores of this remarkable 

 country-. 



The Seven Icebergs are each, on an average, 

 about a mile in length, and perhaps near 200 feet 

 in height at the sea-edge ; but some of those to the 

 southward are much greater. A little to the north- 

 ward of Horn Sound, is the largest iceberg I have 

 seen. It occupies eleven miles in length, of the 

 sea-coast. The highest part of the precipitous 

 front adjoining the sea is, by measurement, 402 

 feet, and it extends backward toward the summit 

 of the mountain, to about four times that elevation. 

 Its surface forms a beautifril inclined plane of 

 .ismooth snow ; the edge is uneven and perpendicu= 



