SPITZBERGEN. CLIMATE. 135 



he seen of more than two or three ounces in weight. 

 There were several perforated rocks near the landing 

 place, and a cave into which we rov/ed with the 

 boat. The top was a regular arch of marble. Its 

 length was thirty or forty yards, breadth about eight 

 or ten yards, and the height of the roof about three. 

 We could nowhere find the bottom with an oar 

 eighteen feet long. Besides the comm'on marble 

 rock, we found in the cave specimens of rhomboi- 

 dal calcareous spar. 



The weather becoming threatening about this 

 time, we put off, and after examining the southern 

 shore, and taking a few angles, proceeded to sea. 

 While we were in King's Bay, not far from the 

 centre, I got an azimuth of the sun when it was 

 directly over the north point of the Foreland, from 

 whence the true bearing of that point was determin- 

 ed to be S. 68° W. 



Two days after this, Jidy 29-, we experienced a 

 heavy gale of wind, during which the discovery 

 ships under Captain Buchan and Lieutenant Frank- 

 lin, were driven into the northern ice, and narrowly 

 escaped being wrecked. Our latitude was then 

 about 79°, so that we were not far from them. 



The climate of Spitzbergen is no doubt more dis- 

 agreeable, to human feeling, than that of any other 

 country yet discovered. Extending to within ten de- 

 grees of the Pole, it is generally intensely cold, and 

 even in the three warmest months, the temperature 



