344 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 



fail in a day or two. It will seldom, indeed, keep 

 sweet after being cooked above 20 or 30 hours. 



A further antiseptical effect is produced by the 

 cold of the polar ^countries, on animal and ve- 

 getable substances, so as to preserve them, if they 

 remain in the same climate, unchanged for a period 

 of many years. " It is observable," says Martens, 

 in his " Voyage to Spitzbergen," " that a dead car- 

 case doth not easily rot or consume ; for it has been 

 found, that a man buried ten years before, still re- 

 tained his perfect shape and dress." An instance 

 corroborative of this remark, is given by M. Bleau, 

 who, in his Atlas Historique, informs us, that the 

 bodies of seven Dutch seamen, who perished in Spitz- 

 bergen in the year 1635, when attempting to pass 

 the winter there, were found twenty years after- 

 wards, by some sailors who happened to land about 

 the place where they were interred, in a perfect 

 state, not having suffered the smallest degree of 

 putrefaction. 



Wood and other vegetable substances are pre- 

 served in a similar manner. During my explora- 

 tion of the shores of Spitzbergen, in the year 1818, 

 several huts, and some coffins built entirely of wood, 

 were observed. One of the latter appeared, by an 

 adjoining inscription, to contain the body of a na-^ 

 live of Britain, who had died in the year 1788 ; and 

 though the coffin had lain completely exposed, ex- 

 cepting when covered with snow, during a period of 



