SPITZBERGEN. — CLI]MATE. 137 



four published journals of persons having wintered 

 by accident or design in this desolate region, toge- 

 ther with the interesting information already allu- 

 ded to, received by Colonel Beaufoy from those Rus- 

 sian adventurers, who not unfrcquently resort hi- 

 ther and remain throughout the winter, for the 

 purposes of hunting and fishing. From these sources 

 of information, I am enabled to give the following 

 sketch of the progress of the seasons. It is, how- 

 ever, designedly brief, as the climate of the arctic 

 seas in general, which is very similar, forms a sub- 

 sequent chapter of this volume. 



After the sun passes the equinox, the approach- 

 es of winter, in the Polar countries, become very 

 rapid. This gloomy season commonly sets in at 

 the latter end of September or beginning of Octo- 

 ber, with winds from the N., N. N, W., or N. W. ; 

 or with calms, hard frost, and snow*. By the end of 

 September or the beginning of October, all the birds 

 which are only summer visitors to Spitzbergen, com- 

 mence their flight towards milder regions; and by the 

 middle of the latter month, the frost has, in some 

 instances, been so intense, that casks of beer have 

 been frozen in a hut, within eight feet of the fire. 

 In November, the sun having disappeared, the frosts 

 rapidly increase, both in frequency and intensity ; 

 but throughout the year, when strong southerly 



* Col. Beaufoy 's Queries,, Nos. 2. & 33. 



