653 



Sl'INALONGA. 



SPOLETO. 



654 



from London. The population of the pariah of Spilsby in 1851 was 

 1461. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of 

 Lincoln. Spilsby Poor-Law Union contains 66 parishes and townships, 

 with an area of 140,269 acres, and a population in 1851 of 28,937. 



The town of Spilsby is neat, clean, and healthy. The town-hall is 

 a plain brick-building on arches. The market-cross is a plain octan- 

 gular shaft, rising from a quadrangular base, and terminating in a 

 vnne. There is a court-house and house of correction. The parish 

 church is a large edifice, of irregular architecture. The AVesleyan 

 Methodists and Independents have places of worship. The Grammar 

 school, founded by Edward VI., which is free to 30 boys, had 52 

 scholars in 1 854. There are National schools, libraries, a young men's 

 literary institution, and a savings bank. The market is held on 

 Monday, and there are three fairs in the year. A county court 

 If held. 



SPINALONGA. [CASDIA.] 



6PIHE. [SPITEB.] 



SPITZBERGEN, a group of islands situated nearer to the arctic 

 pole than any other country on the globe. It lies between 76 SV and 

 80 3V N. lat, 9 and 22 E. long., between the Greenland Sea on the 

 west, and Spitzbergen Sea, which separates it from Nova Zembla, on 

 the east. 



The group consists of four large and numerous small islands. The 

 largest island, Spitzbergen proper, extends from 76 30' to 80 N. lat. ; 

 a peninsula connected with it on the eastern side, is called New Fries- 

 land, or East Spitzbergen. South of New Friesland is Edga Island, 

 which is separated from New Friesland by a strait called Tymens 

 Fiord, or Freeman's Inlet. This strait is somewhat more than 50 

 miles Ion;, and less than 10 miles wide. Along the southern coast of 

 Edges Island numerous small islands cover the sea to a distance of 

 15 miles from the shores, and this group goes by the name of the 

 Thoiaand hlandt. To the east of New Friesland lies North-East 

 Land, which extends from 79 IV to 80 10' N. lat, and is divided 

 from the larger island by the Henloopen, or Waygalz Strait, which is 

 about 70 miles long, and varies in breadth from 4 to 11 miles. A 

 considerable number of smaller islands are dispersed over the sea 

 which surrounds North-East Land on the north and east, in Hen- 

 loopen Strait, and round the north-western coast of Spitzbergen. At 

 the distance of 12 to 15 mile* from the western coast of Spitzbergen 

 is Oharlet Iiland, or Porland, which is about 40 miles long. A long 

 bay, called Weide Jans Water, with numerous inlets, runs north-north- 

 east between Spitzbergen Proper and Spitzbergen East and Edges 

 Island, to the isthmus that connects the two former. To the north 

 of the isthmus is Weide Bay, which runs south-west] 



The west coast of Spitzbergen is mountainous. The mountains 

 generally rise within three miles of the sea, but in several places they 

 commence at the coast. Between the shore and the mountains is a 

 low level tract It is commonly somewhat above the level of high- 

 water mark, but in some places it is below it, and only prevented from 

 being covered by the sea by a natural bank of shingle of the height of 

 10 or 15 feet The mountains, which fill the interior of tho island, 

 rise to between 3000 and 4000 feet above the sea. Many branches of 

 them run westward, and come close to the shore. Where these moun- 

 tain ridges are at no great distance apart from one another, the inter- 

 vening valleys, being of moderate extent, are filled with glaciers, which 

 in several places constitute tho very shores of the sea, forming a high 

 perpendicular wall of ice from 100 to 400 feet high. The inland 

 valley?, in all seasons, present a smooth and continuous bed of snow. 



The southern extremity of Spitzbergen is called Point Look-Out, 

 or South Cape ; a low flat, about 40 square mile* in surface, constitutes 

 the termination of the coast On the isthmus which joins this flat 

 tract to the main body rises a mountain chain, which runs north, and 

 toon attains a considerable elevation, as a large glacier, or iceberg, 

 lies here along the sea-shore. On the west coast, or 77 N. lat, Is a 

 wide bay, called Horn Sound, near the southern shore* of which lies 

 Mount Horn, or Hedge-Hog Mount, which has several summits, the 

 highest of which i 4395 feet Horn Sound ha* tolerable anchor- 

 age. A little to the northward of Horn Sound Is a glacier of immense 

 extent, occupying 11 mile* of the sea-coast, and 400 feet thick. Bell 

 Sound, another wide bay, occurs between 77 35' and 77 40' N. lat, 

 and within it are several auchoring-pUices. North of 7S* is Ice Sound, 

 where good anchorage is found at Oreen Harbour. That portion of 

 Spitzbergen which is south of 78* 50' N. lat. consists of groups of 

 isolated mountains, partly disposed in chains, having conical, pyra- 

 midical, or ridged summits, sometimes round backed, frequently 

 terminating in points, and occasionally in acute peaks not unlike 

 spires. 



To the north of 78* 5V N. lat are English Bay, King's Bay, and 

 Cross Bay, in which there is good anchorage. Near the head of King's 

 Bay there are three piles of rocks of a regular form, called the Three 

 Crowns. They rest on the top of a mountain, and each commences 

 with a square table or horizontal stratum of rock, on the top of which 

 la another of similar form and height, but of smaller area ; this is 

 continued by a third and fourth, and so on, each succeeding stratum 

 being less than that immediately below it, until it forms a pyramid of 

 steps, almost as regular as if it were worked by art. North of Cross 

 Bay the mountains are more disposed in chains than farther south. 

 An inferior chain of hills, six or nine miles from the coast, runs 



parallel to the shore, and from this chain several lateral ridges project 

 into the sea. Between those lateral ridges are the Seven Icebergs, 

 each of which is, on an average, about a mile in length, aud about 

 200 feet liigh near the sea. The higher mountains terminate near 

 79 35' N. lat, and the lower coast, which extends hence to the north, 

 is indented by many small inlets, surrounded by numerous small 

 islands of considerable height. In this part there are several very 

 good harbours and anchorages, both in the iulets and between tho 

 islands, as Magdaleua Bay, the excellent harbours of Smeerenberg, 

 Fair Haven, Vogel Sang, the Norways, Love Bay, Hecla Cove, in the 

 Bay of Treurenburg, on Wavgatz Strait, and others. 



The centre of Charles Island, which lies opposite the western coast 

 of Spitzbergen, is occupied by a mountain chain about 30 miles in 

 length, rising on the west side from the sea, and on the east from a 

 narrow strip of level ground only a few feet above the sea-level. The 

 central part of this chain is perhaps tho highest land near the sea. 

 It rises from the water's edge by a continual ascent, at an angle at 

 first of about 30 degrees, and increasing to 45 degrees and more, until 

 it terminates hi five distinct summits, of which the highest is 4500 feet 

 and the lowest 4000 feet above the sea-level. 



Along the north shores of Spitzbergen and North-East Land tho 

 country is neither GO elevated nor are the hills so sharp-pointed as o:> 

 the west coast Some of the smaller islands, which occur along these 

 shores, and considerable tracts of the mainland, are comparatively 

 level. They also contain much more earth and clay, and the vegeta- 

 tion is rather more vigorous. Along the east coast of North-East 

 Land there is a continuous line of glaciers extending to the shore. 

 The Seven Islands, Walden Island, and Koss Island (the northernmost 

 land known) lie to the north of it. 



Extending to within 10 degrees of the pole, the climate of Spitz- 

 bergen is intensely cold. The mean temperature of the three warmest 

 months on the western coast does not exceed 34-50, and even at that 

 season this part of the island is occasionally subject to a cold of 3, 4, 

 and more degrees below the freezing-point In the northern parts 

 the longest day is four months ; but from the 22nd of October to the 

 22nd of February the sun does not rise above the horizon. This long 

 night however is not quite dark, for the sun, even during its greatest 

 south declination, approaches within 13} degrees of the horizon, and 

 causes a faint twilight for about one-fourth part of every twenty-four 

 hours. If we add to this the aurora-borealix, which sometimes ex- 

 hibits a brilliancy approaching to a blaze of fire, the stars, which 

 shine with unusual brightness, and the moon, which in her north 

 declination appears for twelve or fourteen days together without 

 setting, we may conceive that during the long night there is generally 

 sufficient light to enable a person to go abroad. The winter sets in 

 at the end of September. In the middle of October the frost is 

 sometimes very intense, and it increases rapidly in November. But 

 throughout the whole winter, when strong south winds occur, they 

 are generally accompanied with mild weather, and sometimes with 

 thaw. Storms at this season are frequent A great quantity of snow 

 falls every winter, but it accumulates, principally in the sheltered 

 glens, lying on the level ground seldom more than five feet deep. 

 Captain Parry however found that the climate of the northern coast 

 is remarkably temperate in summer for the latitude, and very agree- 

 able, but only so near the land, that of the adjacent sea being of a 

 totally different character, owing to the almost continual fogs. In 

 May and Juno the sen was almost entirely covered with large fields 

 or floe* of ice, but in August it was hardly possible to discover a single 

 piece of ice, so great was the change which hod been produced by tho 

 continual presence of the sun. The Spitzbergen sea is said to bo 

 much more open than any other part of the Arctic sea in so high a 

 latitude. 



The number of species of plants which have been found in Spitz- 

 bergen hardly exceeds forty, but vegetation is very rapid. Moat of 

 the planU spring up, flower, and produce seed in the course of a month 

 or six weeks. They are of a dwarf size, and the only plant which 

 partakes of the nature of a tree is a Salix herbucen, which grows to 

 the height of three or four inches. The islands do not produce 

 vegetables suitable or sufficient for the nourishment of a single human 

 being : yet Iluesian whalers who frequent the east coast have, ill 

 several instances, resided for years upon Spitzbergen ; and ono, M. 

 Sharostin, is named iu the 'London Geographical Journal for 1853,' 

 who passed thirty nine winters on the island, and resided there fifteen 

 years without having once left the island. In some parts of King's 

 Bay a very beautiful marble and coal of good quality arc abundant. 



The quadrupeds are polar foxes, polar bears, and rein-deer. The 

 adjacent sea abounds in many species of whales and some other large 

 fish. There are also many morses, or walrusses, and abundance of 

 seals. Sea-fowl are exceedingly numerous. 



Spitzbergen was discovered in 1596 by Barentz, Hemskerke, and Ryp, 

 in their endeavour to effect a north-east passage to the Indies. It was 

 named by them Spitzbergen (Pointed Mountains) from tho numerous 

 peaks observed on the coast 



SPLUGEN. [ALPS.] 



SPO'LETO, a province of the States of the Church, consist* of the 

 valley of tho Nera, one of the principal affluents of the Tiber, of 

 the valley of the Maroggia, another affluent of the Tiber, and of 

 several ridges of highlands between thorn. This country is part of 



