ARCTIC LANDS AND SEAS 



331 



ARCTIC LANDS AND SEAS 



Animal Life. Fur-bearing animals are very 

 numerous in Arctic lands and are well able 

 to withstand the rigors of the climate. The 

 polar bear, fox, musk ox, lemming and hare 

 abound, and the Eskimo dog and reindeer 

 have been acclimatized and domesticated. 

 Whales of several species, seals and walrus 

 are found in most parts of the ocean. Birds 

 are very plentiful. Gulls of all kinds are 

 found in thousands wherever there are cliffs 

 for nesting places; snowbirds, ravens, sand- 

 pipers, falcons, ducks, geese, petrels, puffins 

 and ptarmigans are also among the regular 

 inhabitants of these northern regions. There 

 are valuable fisheries on the northern coast 

 of Russia; more than 125 varieties of fish 

 have been caught in Arctic waters, the chief 

 food fishes being cod, halibut and several 

 kinds of flat-fish. Trout and salmon are found 

 in some Arctic rivers, and mollusks, including 

 clams, mussels and squids, are plentiful. 



Plant Life. About 1,700 species of Arctic 

 plants have been classified, many closely re- 

 sembling Alpine vegetation. Poppies and sax- 

 ifrages blossom in the extreme north of Green- 

 land, and flowering mosses and lichens are 

 everywhere common. Trees, chiefly dwarf 

 willows, birches and junipers, occur in the most 

 southern portions, but are absent farther north. 

 It is generally agreed among authorities that 

 the dry winds and not the extreme cold pre- 

 vent the growth of trees, as in the coldest 

 parts of Siberia trees thrive, because there is 

 more humidity in the atmosphere. 



Mineral Wealth. In Greenland a mineral 

 called cryolite, once extensively u.-< ! in mak- 

 ing aluminum, and now much used in the 

 manufacture of enameled ware, is mined; 

 fossil ivory is obtained in Northern Russia, 

 especially in the delta of the River Lena; and 

 th< numerous islands north of Canada contain 

 coal of good quality. At present, dilliculty of 

 access and lack of transportation render these 

 coal fields valueless, but a railway financed 

 by the United States government for the pur- 

 pose of developing the coal fields and copper 

 'A of Alaska is under construction. Gold 

 has been extensively mined in Alaska. Petro- 

 leum is known to exist. 



Climate. Tin- temperature varies consider- 

 ably in different localities within the Arctic 

 regions, but on the average it is much below 

 32 Fahrenheit. On the American omtm.Mt 

 inland temperature averages 30 below eero 

 Cir.l, In Northern Siberia at 

 Verkhoyansk, the coldest place in the northern 



hemisphere, the winter temperatures sometimes 

 range below 60 for weeks at a time. The 

 temperature of the water of the Arctic Ocean 

 is higher than that on the ice-covered land, 

 ing from a few degrees above freezing 

 point to a few degrees below that point. 



Ice Formation. The ice of Arctic lands and 

 seas constitutes much of the scenic feature of 

 the region. In Greenland and some of the 

 larger islands ice has accumulated more rap- 

 idly than it has melted. This accumulation 

 is known as paleocrystic ice. The great ice- 

 sheet of Greenland in places is thickly covered 

 with fine dust having a chemical composition 

 not unlike volcanic ash; and the material, it 

 is thought, came from the nearby volcanoes 

 of Iceland, having been carried hither by the 

 winds. Very small spherules of iron also have 

 been collected, and these, without doubt, are 

 of meteoric origin. In the vicinity of Disko 

 Bay, Greenland, the steep slope of the coast 

 causes a sliding movement, or flow of the ice- 

 sheet, forming Humboldt Glacier. As the edge 

 of the glacier is pushed into the sea, great 

 masses of ice are broken off and float south- 

 ward through Davis Strait. The icebergs thus 

 borne into the route of transatlantic commerce 

 become a double menace. Collision with them 

 has sent many a steamship to the bottom; 

 the dense fog which they help to create adds 

 greatly to the dangers and discomforts of 

 transatlantic passenger service. 



Sea ice takes various forms. The narrow 

 shelf of ice that skirts the cliffs is called the 

 ice-foot. Where waves break on sandy beaches, 

 sand is plentifully mixed with the water, and 

 the mixed sand and ice form the shore barrier. 

 The freezing of the surface of comparatively 

 still sea water, sometimes to a depth of several 

 feet, forms the ice-sheet, or ice-field. When 

 on-shore winds become strong the ice-field is 

 broken into blocks that are piled up and 

 (lunched against the shore, forming an 

 pack. The accumulated force of the wind 

 and water combined is so great that the aide 

 crunch hurls great blocks of ice several feet 

 int<> A ship caught in the pack is 



usually a fixture for three or four months, 

 and many a one has been hopelessly crushed 

 at the breaking of the pack. Detached masses 

 floating about constitute flocx; or. if finally 

 broken, sludge. In the navigable fiords and 

 estuaries ice sometiims forms around the 

 anchors of vessels lying there, finally accumu- 

 c until its buoyancy causes it to rise to 

 surface; this is known a* anchor-ice, or 



