4 



POLAR REGIONS. 



Polar point of difficulty appear to bear a considerable relation 

 Region?. t the probable circumstances of the journey he pro- 

 S- *V''' poses. * 



SECT. II. Geography. 



As the Geography of the Arctic Regions is given 

 under the names of the respective lands, such as 

 GREENLAND, SPITZBERGEN, NOVA ZEMBLA, JAN 

 MAYEN, &c. we shall only have occasion, in this ar- 

 ticle, to describe the general characters of the countries 

 which are elsewhere given in more particular detail. 



The appearance, or character of the arctic portions 

 of the two great continents, is very different from that 

 of the arctic islands. In the former, the mountainous 

 land generally subsides, and the coasts become low and 

 uninteresting, and the sea adjoining shallow ; in the 

 latter, on the contrary, the coasts are bold and preci- 

 pitous ; the land mountainous to the very shores ; and 

 the seas deep. Respecting the polar lands of America, 

 we know extremely little. Excepting the discoveries 

 of Captain Cook, on the north-western margin of 

 America, extending as high as Icy Cape, of Middleton 

 and Fox in Hudson's Bay, touching the Arctic circle, 

 of Hearne and Mackenzie towards the Frozen Ocean, 

 no other examination, of any moment, of this extensive 

 tract of land had been made, until the recent expedi- 

 tions under Lieutenant Franklin by land, and Captain 

 Parry by sea, were undertaken. 



The vast extent of territory possessed by the Rus- 

 sians within the Polar circle, their uncommon facili- 

 ties for research, in having a population either national 

 or tributary dispersed almost throughout the whole, 

 together with the advantages afforded by the abundant 

 river navigations, extending far into the frigid zone, 

 ought to have rendered us tolerably familiar with the 

 bleak and barren shores of ice-bound Siberia. But we 

 have not derived that information from these researches 

 which might have been expected. The three great 

 rivers, the Obe, Einesi, and the Lena, each of which 

 descending towards the north a distance of 1500 or 

 2000 geographical miles, or even more, must necessari- 

 ly reach the sea in a low country ; while the many 

 other extensive rivers, though inferior to these, running 

 in parallel courses, describe the general descent of the 

 land, and the prevailing lowness of the northern coasts. 

 Lapland, however, has a different aspect ; this coast, 

 with some of the more considerable of the Russian pro- 

 montories, partakes more of the bold and rocky charac- 

 ter of the Arctic islands. 



In our description of the Arctic islands we shall 

 comprise Greenland, Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, Jan 

 Mayen, and other smaller islands in the Greenland 

 Sea, together with the land on the western side of 

 Davis' Strait and Baffin's Bay, and that on either hand 

 of Barrow's Strait, extending to the North Georgian 

 Islands, forming the limit of Captain Parry's western 

 navigation in this parallel. 



GREENLAND, there can now be flo doubt, is an in- 

 sulated country, consisting probably of a vast archipe- 

 lago of islands. Sir Charles Giesecke, who spent a 

 considerable time in the examination of the geology 

 and natural history of Greenland, in a manuscript chart 

 of the coast adjoining Davis' Strait and Baffin's Bay, 

 which we have sem, lays down the land, not as a con- 

 tinuous coast, which at a distance it appears to be, but 

 as a chain of islands. 



And the many inlets on the west side of Baffin's 

 Bay, which have usually been considered as bays or 

 sounds, are now pretty well shown to be the straits ^ 

 and channels separating, these Arctic islands. Captain 

 Parry seems to view Regent's Inlet, Admiralty Inlet, 

 Pond's Bay, Navy Board Inlet, and others on the west- 

 ern side of Baffin's Bay, and near Lancaster Sound, as 

 channels and straits of this description. Captain War- 

 ham of the British Queen, whaler, of Newcastle, was 

 in one of these inlets in latitude 72^, in the year 1820, 

 when he was drifted by an inset several leagues up the . 

 strait, until it began to expand to the westward. In 

 this direction it presented a clear opening, in which a 

 few icebergs were seen setting through the strait with 

 considerable velocity. 



" Captain Scoresby, from his personal observations on 

 the eastern coast of Greenland, came to the same con- 

 clusion, as to the structure of the country being an as- . 

 semblage of islands. He draws this conclusion from 

 the depth of the inlets he discovered, from the currents 

 setting up these inlets, from the packing of the ice 

 upon the coast in the end of summer, and from the 

 general character of the land. 



The Arctic islands possess a character which is pecu- 

 liar to themselves. While the features that constitute 

 the beautiful landscape cannot be traced, the majestic 

 and towering cliffs, and mountainous coasts of these 

 islands, present innumerable specimens of the sublime. 

 The stately trees, the rich foliage, and the luxuriant 

 verdure which exhibit such endless beauties in happier 

 climes, become in the polar regions altogether extinct. 

 Trees can scarcely be said to exist in the Arctic islands ; 

 but where a ligneous plant does present itself, it is of 

 such a stunted growth, that it can scarcely be recog- 

 nized as a species of any other country, and often it is 

 so extremely humble in its appearance, that the eye of 

 the botanist can alone distinguish it from the grasses, 

 bulbous plants, or lichens among which it occurs. 



Even the surface of the ground has an extraordinary 

 outline. The eye looks almost in vain for the rounded 

 hill, the gentle slope, the sweeping vale : it rather dis- 

 cerns, in contrast to such, tremendous precipices, 

 mountain peaks, inaccessible cliffs, awful chasms, and 

 extensive dells. 



Instead of the fruitful soil, and the smooth undulating 

 herb-clad surface seen commonly in almost every other 

 clime, these regions exhibit only naked rocks, or the 

 disintegrated ruins of mountains, or a barren imperfect 

 earth, not capable of yielding grain, or even useful 

 roots ; and a surface so rugged and so mountainous, 

 as to bid defiance to culture, or to yield any returns for 

 any labour the art of man can bestow : and in place of 

 herb-clad fields and rich vegetation, to which the eye 

 of the European is accustomed, the polar regions pre- 

 sent a country either altogether void of herbage, or 

 with such disseminated or insulated tufts of vegetation, 

 as to form no sensible proportion to the quantity of 

 barren rocks; or, in those places where vegetation 

 might be looked for, we often find the surface hid be- 

 neath a bed of perrennial ices, and the valleys filled with 

 extensive and magnificent glaciers. 



Such is the most general nature of the polar islands, 

 which, however unproductive as to vegetation, exhibit 

 a grandeur of appearance peculiar to themselves. The 

 stupendous hills rising by steep acclivities from the 

 margin of the ocean to an immense height ; their natu- 

 ral dark-coloured surfaces protruding amid a general 



Polar 



* Arctic Regions, vol. i. p. 5361 ; and Memoirs of tie Wernerian Society, vol. ii. p. 328. 



