Il ICE m THE BLACK SEA. 49 



general congelation occurred in the southern Baltic, and the icy bed 

 served as a road for commerce between Pomerania, Mecklenburg, 

 Denmark, and the islands. In 1408 the ice-field completely closed 

 the entrance of the Baltic between Norway and Jutland, and extended 

 throuo-h the Cattegat, the straits of the sea of Scania, into the Baltic, 

 as far as the large island of Gothland. It is said even that the wolves 

 of Norway, driven from their native forests by hunger, crossed the 

 Skagerrack to invade the villages of Jutland. Since this epoch, 

 several parts of the southern Baltic have been frozen over again ; but 

 the solid surface has never presented the same extent, nor the same 

 consistencv. This fact would seem to prove that the mean tempera- 

 ture has become milder in Northern Europe since the 14th centuiy, 

 while according to Adh^mar's hypothesis exactly the contrary is tHe 



case. 



It is a remarkable fact, that save in a few exceptional years the 

 Black Sea, which is exposed to all the piercing winds which descend 

 from the Polar regions, has never been invaded by ice like the 

 Baltic. During the earlier historic ages the Sea of Marmora and 

 the surface of the Euxine have been frequently covered with ice; 

 which proves that, at least during this period of frost, the tempera- 

 ture of Constantinople was no higher than that of Copenhagen in 

 the year 401 of the present era the Black Sea was almost entirely 

 frozen over, and when the ice broke up, enormous icebergs were 

 seen floating in the Sea of Marmora for thirty days. In 762 the 

 solid layer which covered the Euxine extended from one bank to 

 the other, from the terminal cliffs of the Caucasus to the mouths ol 

 the Dniester, Dnieper, and the Danube. Moreover contemporary 

 writers assert that the quantity of snow which fell on the ice rose to 

 the height of twenty cubits (from 30 to 40 feet ?), and completely 

 hid the contour of the shores, so that one knew not where the land 

 becan or the sea ended. In the month of February, the broken 

 masses of the ice, carried by the current to the entrance of the 

 iEgean Sea, reunited in one immense sheet between Sestos and 

 Abydos across the Hellespont, f 



* See in Vol. I., the chapter entitled, Harmonies and Contrasts. 

 t P. de Tchihatcheff, Le Bosphore et Constantinople. 



k 



