342 Limits of perpetual Snow in the North. (TVIay, 



How complete is tlie alteration here in the climate and appearance 

 of the country. Here no trees are to be seen, and no vegetables 

 can be raised in the gardens. The birches are only bushes, and 

 disappear completely at the height of 746 English feet above the 

 level of the sea. At Alttn they rise to the heiglit of 1500 feet. 

 The sun very seldom is visible from these islands. The summer is 

 destitute of heat, and scarcely two or three tolerably warm days 

 are enjoyed. The north-west wind in the twinkling of an eye 

 covers the surface of the earth with clouds fi-om the sea ; torrents 

 of rain tumble down, and the clouds all day long hover upon the 

 surface of the earth. Deeper in the fiord only light and passing 

 showers fall ; and at Alten the sky is clear and the sun shines ; but 

 a black and dusky band of clouds is always seen in the northern 

 horizon. 



Not less remarkable is the eternal mist which hangs above 

 ]\'iageroe at the North Cape, in the 7 1st degree of latitude. Here 

 we find nothing among the rocks which is entitled to the name of a 

 bush. We perceive indeed between the clifls a deep valley, which 

 IS sheltered from the sea wind. In it tl^t-re ai)pears here and there 

 a remainder of birches, not in the form of bushes, but creeping 

 along the ground. But these melancholy remains do not go higher 

 than 430 feet. The snow line therefore, which at jlllen was 3517 

 feet above the level of the sea, at Havnnerfcst h only 231 5 feet 

 high. Thus frccn FUhfieldt, as we advance towards the pole, to 

 Alten, a distance of 10° of latitude, the snow line has only sunk 

 2025 English feet j but from Alten to the North Cape, a distance 

 of only li degree of latitude, it has sunk 1172 feet. So great is 

 the difference between the interior of the bays and their outlet into 

 the sea. The vapour at its maximum above the sea falls down in 

 the state of fog, rain, or perpetual cloud, whenever the tem- 

 perature IS the least diminished above these islands. In the interior 

 of the country, so much of the vapour has already fallen to the 

 ground, that the temperature is capable of maintaining the air 

 transparent. The sun penetrates through the clouds, acts upon the 

 soil, and warms it. The temperature of the atmosphere is in con- 

 sequence considerably elevated, and now the sea winds drive the 

 clouds in that high temperature as into an abyss. Scarce have they 

 reached these regi; ii, when they disappear altogether, and sun- 

 shine continue^ often for weeks without the least interruption. The 

 interior of thejiord now enjoys the benefit of the warmer sea air, 

 but the fog, which preven^^s the action of the sun's rays, does not 

 penetrate so far. Hence it happened that the mean heat of the 

 month of Jrly (1807) at Alten was 62*4°, while at the North 

 Cape, at the end of July and beginning of August, it was only 

 51*5. Hi-uce it happens that at AUen, at Reisfiord, at Lyvgen, 

 almost umier the 70th degree of latitude, corn is cultivated with 

 profit, while in the island of Tromsoe in the same latitude, even 

 birches vegetate with difficulty. Hence it hapjiens that at hy.Her, 

 in Sognedal, and at Kopanger, in the interior of the Sognefiotd, 

 aud in the 61st degree of latitude, not only excellent crops of 



