THE MIDNIGHT SUN. 265 



prefer those cool hours, to midday, when the sun is 

 often oppressively hot, and shines with intense brilli- 

 ancy and power. A very great and wearisome nuis- 

 ance this prevalence of continual day soon proves to 

 most travellers, who find it difficult to sleep on account 

 of the light. The darkness of the night therefore, may 

 be regarded as one of those blessings to mankind, 

 whose value can only be properly appreciated by the 

 dwellers in high latitudes, or by the inhabitants of 

 tropical lands, where the night comes to give a blessed 

 relief from the exhausting heat and glare of day. 



At Hammerfest the midnight sun is of course seen 

 in all its glory ; there is a mountain called " Tyren " 

 near the town, 1230 feet in height, which tourists are 

 in the habit of ascending to witness the unwonted 

 spectacle from its summit, where it is said that the sun 

 is visible at midnight from May i3th to July 2gth. * 

 Another favorite point of view is from the North Cape 

 in Lat. 71 1 1' 40" N., Long. 25 44' o" E. This lofty 

 headland, situated on Magero Island, which is slightly 

 detached from the mainland, is generally accounted 

 the most northern point of the continent of Europe. 

 Here a grand cliff rises from the sea, in some places 

 quite perpendicularly, to a height of about 968 feet, and 

 the view from the edge of the precipice extends over the 

 ocean to the north, far away towards the arctic soli- 

 tudes; while at the same time the traveller enjoys a 

 splendid panorama of what is probably one of the 

 wildest and finest pieces of coast scenery in the world. 

 " The midnight sun is finely seen here. The altitude 

 of its centre, at midnight, on June 21 is about 4 



* Murray's Handbook for Travellers in Norway, 8th Edition, 1892, 

 p. 1 80. 



