POLAR REGIONS. 



Polar burden of snow of purest \\hitcnc-vs, or pale-green ices, 

 Jugtont. constitute an extraordinary and beautiful kind of 

 *^"V**' scnery. There are particular spots, however, and 

 even considerable inlands, that have an aspect differing 

 greatly fr<n the ireneral characters that have been de- 

 scribed. Thus, among the discoveries of Captain Parry, 

 there are many islands that arc low and level in the'ir 

 surface, and which are totally void of those splendid 

 glaciers, romantic cliffs, and sublime scenery so general 

 in Greenland and Spitzbergen. 



Spitzbergen, Greenland, the lands on the western 

 side of Baffin's Bay, &c. are in general mountainous; 

 the very name of Spitzbergen (sharp mountains) is 

 indeed characteristic of its appearance. Many of the 

 mountains take their rise from within a league of the 

 sea, and some rise from the very shore. Few tracts of 

 table land, of more than a league in breadth, are to be 

 seen; and in many places the blunt termination of 

 mountain ridges project beyond the regular line of the 

 coast, and overhang, in prodigious precipices, the wa- 

 ters of the ocean. * The greater proportion of these 

 countries consist of groups of insulated mountains, sel- 

 dom disposed in chains, or in any determinate order. 

 Their forms are various ; but the most prevailing have 

 conical, pyramidal, or ridged summits ; sometimes they 

 are round backed ; but more frequently terminate in 

 points, and occasionally in acute peaks, not unlike 

 spires. Many of the precipices in Greenland, Spitz- 

 bergen, Jan May en, &c. are from 1000 to 1500, or 

 even 2000 feet perpendicular ; and numbers of the 

 > mountainous peaks are upwards of 4000 feet in eleva- 

 tion. Among such mountains, the valleys sometimes 

 descend between each to within a few fathoms of the 

 level of the sea ; so that the whole elevation of the 

 mountain is seen, and the whole fabric becomes an in- 

 sulated and distinct object The base of some of these 

 insulated mountains of the greatest elevation does not 

 exceed a square of two or three miles. The points 

 formed by the tops of some of the highest mountains 

 in Spitzbergen, are so fine, that an observer cannot 

 discover a place on which an adventurer, attempting 

 the hazardous exploit of climbing one of the summits, 

 might rest, t 



Among the mountains of Spitzbergen there are some 

 remarkable for the symmetry or regularity of their 

 form. Besides regularly proportioned four-sided pyra- 

 mids, there are some mountain crests ot extraordinary 

 beauty. These consist of pyramids of stairs or steps of 

 gigantic magnitude, each step diminishing on all sides 

 with such striking regularity, as to convey the idea of 

 the beautiful superstructure being the work of art. + 

 On the north side of Barrow's Strait, the cliffs, which 

 are mural precipices of 500 or G'OO feet, present a butt- 

 ress like structure, of an appearance equally artificial, 

 as those mountain crests of Spitzbergen, which gives 

 them a beautiful and imposing character. And a simi- 

 lar, but much more magnificent, structure occurs on 

 the south side of Scoresby's Sound, on the east of Green- 

 land. " The mountains facing the north are in general 

 distinguished by numerous parallel, horizontal strata or 

 beds, forming ledges not unlike steps, on a gigantic 

 scale, which strata are distinguished from the rest of 

 the dark-coloured precipitous surfaces, by fine white 

 lines of snow, that give the whole crest a beautiful as 

 well "as extraordinary appearance." 



* Scoresby's Arctic Regiont, i. 94. 



$ Ibid. i. 99. Parry's Voyage, p. 266. 



IT Scoresby's Arctic Regiont, i. 100, 



.Many of the mountains of the Arctic UUndi are in- Pci.r 

 accessible to man. The steepness of the ascent, and K S i0ri - 

 the looseness of the rocks, with the numerous lodg- - ~ ""* 

 ments of ice in the sides of the cliffs, constitute, in 

 many places, insurmountable obstacle!. In attempting 

 any of the steeper ascents, it is a matter of prudence to 

 mark every step with chalk, otherwise the adventurer 

 will perhaps find himself dangerously involved amid 

 elevated precipices and terrific dells. Several persons 

 have perished for the want of this precaution. When 

 Barentz and Heemskirke, in their voyage of discovery 

 towards the north, were at Cherie Island, some daring 

 fellows among the seamen climbed a steep mountain in 

 search of birds' eggs, where they unexpectedly found 

 themselves in a most perilous situation : for, on turning 

 to descend, the way by which they had attained'the 

 summit presented a frightful assemblage of pointed 

 rocks, vertical precipices, and yawning chasms. On 

 attempting to re-trace their steps, they became more 

 and more bewildered among the rocks. At length, 

 after suffering much anxiety, and being in great peril 

 of their lives, they succeeded, by mutually assisting one 

 another, in effecting their extrication from the danger- 

 ous situation into which their thoughtless daring had 

 led them. II 



The iceberg, or polar glacier, is met with in almost 

 all the Arctic islands, and is one cf the most interesting 

 objects which they afford. The most conspicuous are 

 those occupying confined valleys, or ravines, opening 

 towards the coast. They commonly rest on an inclined 

 plane, bounded by hills on the sides, and ascending to 

 a mountainous height in the back ground. In most 

 cases the icebergs terminate at the margin of the sea 

 with precipitous crest, rising to 200, 300, or 400 feet 

 elevation ; but in some sheltered situations they pro- 

 trude beyond the beach into deep water, and being 

 then capable of large dismemberments, give rise to 

 those extraordinary islands of ice found afloat in such 

 abundance in Baffin's Bay and Davis' Strait. The 

 breadth in front of these glaciers is often upwards 

 of a mile ; some extend to ten miles or more ; and 

 many of them climb the mountains in the back ground 

 to the height of 2000 or 3000 feet. 



Icebergs have a similar origin to the glaciers of Eu- 

 rope. These being invariably formed between the line 

 of perpetual freezing and the line of occasional freezing, 

 and the interval between these lines being greatest in 

 high latitudes, we see why the belt of icebergs in the 

 Arctic regions is of such extraordinary breadth, extend- 

 ing indeed from the summit of the highest mountains 

 into the very bed of the sea. They are the produce of 

 sleet and snows, augmented under particular circum- 

 stances by rains and fogs : a partial solution of the snow- 

 being necessary to consolidate it into ice. 



The precipitous crest of icebergs has a glistening 

 uneven surface, of a greenish grey colour. The upper 

 surface, in summer, is rough and furrowed ; in winter 

 it is buried under a smooth expanse of snow. The ice 

 of these glaciers is hard and solid : considerable beds of 

 it are met with as transparent as glass. 



The coasts of the Arctic islands exhibit a scenery 

 which is novel and interesting. Innumerable moun- 

 tainous peaks, ridges, precipices, or needles, are seen 

 rising immediately out of the sea to the height of 2000, 

 3000, or 4000 feet ; while snow and ice in striae, or 



t Ibid. 5. 97. 



Scorwby'i Vjyagf U> Greenland <n 1822, p. 219- 



