14 



POLAR REGIONS. 



Polar by the Spitzbergen whalers, in attaining the northern 

 Region?, fishing stations, the whole is removed before their re- 

 turn ; so that, by pursuing a proper course, they may 

 lead out in a clear sea, where it costs immense exertion 

 to penetrate. 



SECT. V. Climate. 



Our limit, as indicated by the title of this article, 

 confines us to the regions beyond the latitude of 66^* ; 

 but as the cfynaie of some countries lying to the south- 

 ward of the Arctic circle, is of the polar kind, and 

 may be useful for illustrating that of the Arctic regions 

 in general, we shall not scruple, in this part of our 

 subject, to step across the boundary. 



In proportion as we recede from the equator towards 

 the poles, the climate becomes more variable, and the 

 temperature more fluctuating. While, in the polar re- 

 gions, we have the severest natural colds that occur on 

 the face of the globe, during the winter, we have, on 

 certain parts of the Arctic lands, almost an equatorial 

 temperature during a brief part of the summer. The 

 extremes are probably 140 of temperature asunder, 

 the range extending from about 80, the highest sum- 

 mer heat, to] 50 or 60, the average greatest winter 

 cold. This sultry temperature of summer, however, is 

 confined to local situations on the land, and is owing to 

 the perpetual influence of the sun during several suc- 

 cessive months, acting vertically upon the sides of the 

 hills, and producing its extraordinary effects in the ad- 

 joining valleys. For, at a distance from the shore, the 

 temperature, in the finest weather, seldom rises above 4 5. 



In the autumn and spring seasons, the climate is more 

 particularly variable and tempestuous. The tempera, 

 ture sometimes passes through its extreme monthly 

 range, which probably exceeds 50 or 60 degrees, with 

 a rapidity unknown in other zones. North, west, and 

 east winds, in Spitzbergen and Greenland, bring with 

 them the extreme frost of the surrounding icy regions, 

 whilst a shift of wind to the southward elevates the 

 temperature towards that of the neighbouring seas. 



But, in winter and summer, the temperature of the 

 atmosphere is very uniform, especially in situations far 

 removed from the open sea. From the 17th of Decem- 

 ber to the 6th of March following, the temperature at 

 Melville Island, where Captain Parry wintered, was 

 uniformly below zero ; and, in the Greenland Sea, in 

 summer, especially during the foggy season, the tem- 

 perature is still more strikingly regular. During fogs, 

 the thermometer is generally near the freezing point, 

 seldom varying above three or four degrees between 

 midday and midnight ; and sometimes it is so steady, 

 that for two or three days together, there is not a va- 

 riation of more than a degree or two. 



While, on the one hand, the Arctic regions in sum- 

 mer have perpetual sunshine, extending from a week to 

 six months together, in proportion as we remove from 

 the Arctic circle towards the pole ; so, on the other 

 hand, in winter, they are doomed to continued night 

 for nearly a similar period. But, while thus deprived 

 of the genial rays of the sun, they enjoy an advantage 

 from the moon which no other part of the globe, ex- 

 cepting the corresponding south polar regions, possesses. 

 Thus, in the winter season, in Spitzbergen, and other 

 places in similar latitudes, the moon, from her first to 

 her last quarter, sweeps round and round the horizon 

 without setting, for ten or eleven days together; thus 

 bestowing her best and most constant influence on those 

 regions most needing her light, and withdrawing it 

 proportionably from those which have at the time the 

 benefit of the sun's presence. This economy of the 



moon, which is so beautifully adjusted as to afford the Polar 

 greatest possible benefit to every part of the globe, in Regions. 

 the most equitable succession, and to proportion that ^"* " 

 benefit to the deficiencies of the solar light, is, perhaps, 

 among the finest displays of infinite wisdom and bene- 

 ficence which the study of the planetary and solar sys- 

 tem, though replete with such evidences of perfection, 

 presents. 



The most severe cold, says Crantz, that occurs in 

 Greenland, sets in, as in temperate climates, " after 

 the new-year, and is so piercing in February and 

 March, that the stones split in twain, and the sea 

 reeks like an oven." On the 15th of February, the 

 greatest cold, that was experienced by Captain Parry at 

 Melville Island, occurred. The thermometer on shore 

 fell to 55; and for 15 J hours it never rose above 

 54. Even at this extreme temperature, no particu- 

 lar inconvenience was suffered when there was no wind ; 

 but, on walking against a very light breeze, a smarting 

 sensation was experienced all over the face. Mercury 

 froze in the open air, and was beaten out on the anvil. 

 The effects of the cold were very curious. The Hecla 

 had double stern windows ; on opening the dead-lights, 

 after four months, more than twelve large buckets full 

 of ice, the produce of the frozen vapour, arising 

 principally from the moisture exhaled in breathing by 

 the gentlemen occupying the cabin, were removed. 

 The temperature of Captain Parry's cabin fell as low as 

 -\-"t, on the 17th of February, which stopped two of 

 the chronometers. This was occasioned by uncovering 

 the stern windows. The officers often wore their great 

 coats in the cabin, and put them off when they walked 

 abroad. The breath of a person walking was so sud- 

 denly condensed, that it looked like the smoke of a 

 musket. On the 24th of February, when the tempera- 

 ture of the atmosphere was 44, several of the sailors 

 suffered severely from frost-bites, owing to a peculiar 

 exposure in subduing a fire that occurred at their obser- 

 vatory on shore. Some of the sailors had their noses 

 frozen ; and one man lost part of several fingers. The 

 contraction of the timbers of the ships, occasioned by 

 the coldness and dryness of the air, produced a frequent 

 and loud cracking noise, as the temperature fell; but 

 it was observed that when this effect had taken place 

 at a certain temperature, it did not recur, excepting at 

 still lower temperatures. Captain Middleton, in de- 

 scribing the cold of Hudson's Bay, and several other 

 polar navigators, mention similar effects of cold. In 

 the journal of Captain Ellis, who wintered in Hudson's 

 Bay in 1746-7, without the limit of the polar circle, we 

 are informed that several of the sailors had their faces, 

 ears, and toes frozen; that iron adhered to their fingers ; 

 that glasses used in drinking stuck to the mouth, and 

 sometimes removed the skin from the lips and tongue ; 

 and, that a sailor, who had inadvertently used his finger 

 for stopping a spirit bottle, in place of a cork, while 

 removing it from the house to his tent, had his finger 

 fast frozen in the bottle, in consequence of which, a 

 part of it was obliged to be taken off, to prevent mor- 

 tification. Captain Scoresby, in his Account of the 

 Arctic Regions, gives several other examples of the ef- 

 fects of severe cold; and, in his Journal of a Greenland 

 Voyage in 1822, he mentions a case which occurred in 

 the whale fishery of that year, that was more destruc- 

 tive than any example that he has given of the effects 

 of the winter temperature. The crew of the King 

 George, it appears, struck a fish during a severe gale 

 that occurred in the month of May, when the thermo- 

 meter fell to zero, or below. Thick weather setting 

 in, they lost sight of the ship, and were exposed on the 



