VOL. XVII. (3) 



THE ISLAND OF JAN MAYEN 



333 



THE ISLAND OF JAN MAYEN 



BY 

 WILLIAM BELLOWS 



[Plate XL.] 



It is a far cry, certainly, from the green slopes of the 

 Cottes wolds to the glaciers of Jan May en, but as our Club 

 has not infrequently followed with a kindly interest the 

 experiences of its members straying far from home, I offer 

 for the benefit of my fellow-members a brief account of this 

 lonely island in the Arctic Sea, and of an attempt to land 

 upon it in the summer of 191 1. 



Jan Mayen (uninhabited, and now but rarely visited) is 

 a spot which must ever appeal to sea-travellers in northern 

 waters on account of its very solitude, and because, also, of 

 its remarkable physical features. The island, which is en- 

 tirely volcanic, hes 250 miles eastward from the Greenland 

 coast, 650 miles westward from the North Cape, 310 miles 

 from Cape Langanes in Iceland, and is bisected by the 71st 

 degree of north latitude. It is 34 miles long and has a vary- 

 ing width of from 2 to 9 miles. As will be seen by the 

 accompanying map, it is formed of two definite portions of 

 land connected by an elongated strip. The northern portion 

 is a huge volcanic snow-clad mass culminating in Mount 

 Beerenberg (a virgin peak rising to 8350 feet above the sea) ; 

 the southern part is a rolling piece of gloomy hill-country, 

 covered with innumerable volcanic cinder- cones and craters, 

 and marked by dark green stretches where vegetation still holds 

 its own amid desolate wastes of volcanic ash and patches 

 of snow. The coast-line is extremely striking, and at the 

 proper season is the haunt of countless sea-birds. Rugged 

 cliffs descend into the water at many points, intercepted at 

 the Beerenberg end by glaciers which come down steeply to 

 the sea, and at other places by sombre valleys which were 

 evidently once the beds of now " extinct " glaciers. On the 

 eastern coast lies " Driftwood Bay " with its seven miles 



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