SPITZBERGEN— BEAR ISLAND— JAN MEYEN. 



131 



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MIKXIGHI SUN OFF SPITZBEKGEN. 



CHAPTER X. 



SPITZBERGEN— BEAR ISLAND— JAN MEYKN. 



The west Coast of Spitzbergen.— Ascension of a Mountain by Dr. Scoresby.— His Excursion along tlie 

 Coast.— A stranded Whale.— Magdalena Bay.— Multitudes of Sea-birds.— Animal Life.— Midnight 

 Silence.— Glaciers.— A dangerous Neighborhood.— Interior Plateau.— Flora of Spitzbergen. — Its 

 Similarity with that of the Alps above the Snow-line.— Reindeer.— The hyperborean Ptarmigan.— 



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



Period of the Whale-fishery.— Coffins.— Eight English Sailors winter in Spitzbergen, 1630.— Jlelan- 

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

 gen.— Scharostin.— Walrus-ships from Hammerfest and Tromso.— Bear or Cherie Island —Bennet. 

 —Enormous Slaughter of Walruses.— Mildness of itsCliniate.— 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 surface is about equal to that of two-thirds of Scotland ; its most southern 

 point (Y6° 30' 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 without interruption as far as the Straits of 

 Bering. 



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



