APPENDIX. 141 



salt. From its situation, embosomed by hills, the 

 thermometer in the summer, as our observations 

 show, often reaches a very high degree of tempera- 

 ture. With proper management, a cod might then 

 have been prepared for the market in three days, 

 while at Newfoundland, in the best weather, it re- 

 quires five. 



" At Newfoundland, they have only from twelve 

 to fourteen hours sun ; at Hammerfest, nearly four 

 months. The advantages, therefore, as to climate, 

 on the side of Hammerfest, are most obvious. Per- 

 haps, too, an establishment in the North might, in 

 time of war, be of some importance, as it would 

 the better enable us to prevent our enemies enjoy- 

 ing any share of so lucrative a trade as the whale 

 fishing. 



" The cold is by no means so intense in winter as 

 might be expected. The inner harbour, though 

 seldom agitated by winds, was never seen frozen 

 over ; and the moonlight is sufficiently strong to 

 render labour practicable. Nature has been very 

 provident with respect to fuel, the whole country 

 abounding with good turf. The severity of the cli- 

 mate diminishes the vital principle in the human 

 race ; the men soon get old, and the women are past 

 child-bearing at thirty-five. 



