ANIMAL LIFE. 131 



as from the intense cold of the atmosphere which is 

 put in motion. But in regard to gales, although 

 there are no lack of them, they are neither so fierce 

 nor so frequent as are those of the torrid zone. 



It might be supposed that in such a climate 

 animal life could scarcely exist; but such is not 

 the case. The inhabitants of part of the arctic 

 regions, named Esquimaux (more correctly Eskimos, 

 with the accent on the last syllable), are a stout, 

 hardy, healthy race ; and the polar bears, foxes, 

 wolves, seals, musk-oxen, walruses, &c., that dwell 

 there, seem to enjoy their existence just as much 

 as do the animals of more favoured and warmer 

 climes. 



During the short but hot summer of the arctic 

 regions, the immense masses of ice formed in winter 

 are by no means cleared away. A great part of 

 the heat of early summer (there is no season there 

 that merits the name of spring) is spent in breaking 

 up the solid crust of ice on the sea, a large propor- 

 tion of which is carried south by the currents that 

 flow to the equator, and melted long before they 

 reach the temperate zones. But a considerable 

 quantity of broken ice-masses get locked in narrow 

 places or stranded on shallows ; and although they 

 undergo the process of melting the whole sumrner, 

 they are not much diminished ere the returning 

 frost stops the process and locks them in the new 

 ice of a succeeding winter. 



Thus there is no period of the year in which large 



