POLAR REGIONS. 



Polar patches, occupy the various clefts in the sides of the 



Regions. 



, 



> ca p the mountain summits, or fill with extended 

 beds and mighty glaciers the most considerable valleys. 

 There is, indeed, a kind of majesty not to be conveyed 

 in words, in these extraordinary accumulations of snow 

 and ice in the valleys, and in the rocks above rocks and 

 peaks above peaks in the mountain groups, which ap- 

 pear above tne ordinary elevation of the clouds, and 

 extend to the utmost limit of vision; and when you 

 approach the shore under the impenetrable obscurity of 

 a summer fog, and the fog happens to disperse, as is 

 often the case like the drawing of a curtain, then these 

 interesting lands, exhibiting a strong contrast of light 

 and shade, heightened to the utmost extent by a cloud- 

 less atmosphere and powerful sun, burst on the senses 

 in a brilliant exhibition, resembling the production of 

 magic. * 



To this strong contrast of the light reflected from the 

 snow, and the deep shade of the dark coloured rocks, 

 is to be attributed a remarkable deception observed in 

 the apparent distance of the land. Any strangers, how- 

 ever well acquainted with other countries, must be com- 

 pletely at a loss when making the first attempt to esti- 

 mate the distance of any of the bold Arctic lands. When 

 at the distance of twenty miles, it would be no difficult 

 matter, in situations where the deception is the most con- 

 siderable, to induce even a judicious stranger to under- 

 take a passage in a boat, from a belief that he was 

 within a league of the shore. At this distance indeed 

 of twenty miles, the portions of rock and patches of 

 snow are as distinctly and strongly marked as would 

 be expected at a fifth part of the same distance, t 



From the great height of these lands, and the bril- 

 liant manner in which the mountains are sometimes il- 

 luminated, many of the coasts may occasionally be seen 

 at the distance of fifty or sixty miles ; and some parti- 

 cular mountains fully double this distance. In such 

 cases, any extensive snow-clad surface shines with the 

 brightness of the full moon, and exhibits a colour and 

 appearance very similar to the resplendent face of that 

 luminary. 



SECT. III. -Hydrography* 



We are little acquainted with the hydrography of the 

 polar regions in general, as the greater part of the sur- 

 face of the sea is covered by an impenetrable body of ice. 

 With respect to the Greenland sea, however, which forms 

 the most considerable proportion of the navigable part of 

 the frigid zone, we are tolerably familiar ; and also with 

 that of Davis' Strait and Baffin's Bay. The Greenland 

 Sea includes the whole extent between Greenland and 

 Nova Zerabla, a breadth of 3400 miles, and from 

 the parallel of Cape Farewell to an unknown distance 

 towards the pole. In this sea the nearest approaches 

 to the pole are made. 



The Arctic seas are less salt than those of other re- 

 gions. The average specific gravity of tropical seas is 

 about 1.0288 , and of the Greenland sea about 1.0265. 

 The average quantity of saline matter in the latter is 

 about 3.68 per cent. The difference in the saline con- 

 tents of the Arctic and tropical seas is very trifling : the 

 general uniformity may be attributed to the perpetual 

 circulation by currents which takes place in the waters 

 of the main ocean. In more confined seas, however, 



where the same exchange of waters does not take place, 

 we find the specific gravity greatly reduced. Thus, 

 while the lowest specific gravity observed by Mr. Scores- 

 by in the Greenland sea was 1.0254, which occurred in 

 la'titude 78 34', Capt. Ross in Baffin's Bay found it so 

 low as 1.020; and Capt. Parry, near Melville Island, 

 found it still lower, being little more than 1.01. 



The water of the main ocean is well known to be as 

 transparent and as colourless as that of the most pure 

 springs, and it is only when seen in deep seas that 

 any certain and unchangeable colour appears. The 

 prevailing colour is ultra-marine blue, differing but 

 a shade from the colour of the atmosphere when free 

 from obscurity. But in many parts of the polar seas 

 the colour changes to olive green, and the water becomes 

 extremely turbid. Henry Hudson, the Arctic naviga- 

 tor, was perhaps the first who noticed this circumstance, 

 in the year 1607- Captain Parry and Captain Scores- 

 by observed the same. Hudson attributes the turbid 

 green colour to the influence of the ice ; and Capt. 

 Parry, on first seeing brown-coloured water in Davis' 

 Strait, considered it as produced by an admixture with 

 rain water. The true cause, however, of this turbidity 

 and change of colour, was discovered by Mr. Scoresby 

 to arise from an innumerable quantity of minute medu- 

 sae and animalcules contained in the water. He found 

 that a cubic inch of the olive-green water contained 

 about 64 medusas. In this proportion, a cubic mile 

 would contain about 23,888,000,000,000,000 ! The 

 sea where this water occurred was above a mile deep ; 

 but supposing these animals to extend only to the depth 

 of 250 fathoms, the above number of onespeeies of ani- 

 mal would still occur in a space of two miles square, a 

 number, which Mr. Scoresby calculates would have 

 required 80,000 persons to have started at the creation 

 of the world to have completed the enumeration at the 

 present time. j| 



" What a stupendous idea this fact gives of the im- 

 mensity of creation, and of the bounty of divine Provi- 

 dence, in furnishing such a profusion of life in a region 

 so remote from the habitations of men ! But if the 

 number of animals in a space of two miles square be so 

 great, what must be the amount requisite for the disco- 

 loration of the sea, through an extent of perhaps twen- 

 ty or thirty thousand square miles ?"1T 



These animals, Mr. Scoresby observes, are not with- 

 out their evident economy, as on their existence possi- 

 bly depends the being and preservation of the whole 

 race of mysticete, and some other species of cetaceous 

 animals. For the minute medusae apparently afford 

 nourishment to the scepice, actinias, cancri, helices, and 

 other genera of Mollusca and Aptera, so abundant in 

 the Greenland sea, while these latter constitute the 

 food of several of the whale tribe inhabiting the same 

 region : thus producing a dependent chain of animal 

 life, one particular link of which being destroyed the 

 whole must necessarily perish. "H 



Besides these medusae, the Arctic seas abound with 

 other still smaller animals. In two or three instances, 

 Mr. Scoresby has met with extensive patches and 

 streaks of the sea of a yellowish green colour, having 

 the appearance of an admixture with flowers of sulphur 

 or of mustard. These occurred near the east coast of 

 Greenland, in the parallels of 70 and 73 north. Sus- 

 pecting the colouring matter to be of an animal nature, 

 Mr. Scoresby examined some of the water by a power- 



Polar 



Regions. 



Arctic Regions, i. 110. 



A rctic Region t, i. 182. 



t Ibid. i. 111. 

 | Ibid. i. 179. 



* Edin. Phil. Journal, p. 162. 



f Ibid. i. 180. f Ibid. i. 180. 



