HAMMERFEST. 



259 



whether it be to elevation of the land above the sea, 

 or to the winds, or the great oceanic currents, and 

 the various proportions of moisture in the atmosphere. 



All these things, as we have repeatedly had occa- 

 sion to show, may so far modify the climates of the 

 earth, at particular points, that one might be tempted 

 to exclaim "Climatic Zones do not exist at all! the 

 idea is a delusion and a snare ! " 



But when we come to carefully examine into the 

 probable causes which produce these changes, in many 

 cases we can (as we humbly conceive) point out the 

 plain reason why they come about; which we gener- 

 ally find set forth, for our guidance and instruction, 

 in the Great Book of Nature, in characters so clear 

 that he who runs may read. 



We find a good instance in point within the arctic 

 zone at Hammerfest, a town of some 2000 inhabi- 

 tants, situated on the northern coast of Norway, in 

 Lat. 70 40' N., Long. 23 42' E. It was founded 

 in 1787, and had then, and still has, the distinction 

 of being the most northern town in the world: situated 

 not so very far south of the boundary of Professor 

 Meyen's " Polar Zone." 



Sir John Franklin with his ships the Erebus and 

 Terror, was beset by ice, at the beginning of the 

 winter of 1846, upon almost the same parallel of 

 latitude: namely in Lat. 70 50' N., Long. 980 23' W. ; 

 and as w r e know, not one of the 138 persons who 

 composed the personnel of that expedition, ever 

 returned to tell the tale. Altogether 23 expeditions 

 were sent out in search of them, by land and by 

 sea; but it was not till long after namely on May 

 6th 1859 that a paper was discovered by Lieute- 



