SPITZBERGEN— BEAR ISLAND— JAN IHEYEN. 



131 



MlKMGHr SUN Off SPITZBERGEN. 



CHAPTER X. 



SPITZBERGEN— BEAR ISLAND— JAN MEYEN. 



The west Coast of Sjiitzborgen. — Asccn«ion of a Mountain by Dr. Scoresbj'. — His Excursion along the 

 Coast. — A stranded Whale. — Magdaleiia Bay. — Multitudes of Sea-biids. — Animal Life. — Midnight 

 Silence. — Gl;iciers. — A dangerous Neighborhood. — Interior Plateau. — Flora of Spitzbergen. — Its 

 Similarity witli tiiat of tlie Alps above the Snow-line. — Reindeer. — The liyperborean Ptarmigan. — 

 Fishes. — Coal. — Drift-wood. — Discovery of Spitzbergen by Barentz, Heemsiierk, and Ryp. — Brilliant 

 Period of tlie Whale-tisliery. — Coffins. — Ei^ht English Sailors winter in Spitzbergen, 1630.— Melan- 

 choly Death of some Dutch Volunteers. — Russian Hunters. — Their Mode of wintering in Spitzber- 

 gen. — Scharos in. — Walrus-ships fro.ii Hammerfest and Tromso. — Bear or Clierie Island — Bennet. 

 — Enormous Slaiightrr of Walruses. — Mildness of its Climate. — Mount Misery'. — Adventurous Boat- 

 voyage of some Norwegian Sailors. — Jan Meyen. — Beerenberg. 



THE archipelago of Spitzbergen consists of five large islands : West Spitz- 

 bergen, North-east Land, Stans Foreland, Barentz Land, Prince Charles 

 Foreland ; and of a vast number of smaller ones, scattered around their coasts. 

 Its surfacfe is about equal to that of two-thirds of Scotland : its most southern 

 point (76° 80' N. lat.) lies nearer to the Pole than Melville Island; and Ross 

 Islet, at its northern extremity (80° 49' N. lat.), looks out upon the unknown' 

 ocean, which perhaps extends Avithout interruption as far as the Straits of 

 Bering. 



Of all the Arctic countries that have hitherto been discovered, Grinnell 



I 



