PART THE SECOND. 



CONTAINING THE DESCRIPTION OF SPITZBERGEN. 



CHAP. I. 



Of the External Face and Appearance of Spitzbergen. 



The lowermost parts of these countries, that are called 

 Spitzbergen, from the sharp or pointed hills or mountains 

 (for Sjyitz is pointed), are situated under seventy-six degrees 

 and thirty minutes. We sailed to the eighty-first degree, 

 and no ship ventured farther that year ; but how far this 

 country is extended to the north, is still unknown. 



It seemeth, because the ice stands firm and floats not, as 

 that in the sea doth, that there should be land not far behind 

 it. As the highest countries arc surrounded by mountains, 

 as a fortification is with walls and works, so are these coun- 

 tries naturally surrounded with high hills. 



The inward condition of this country we do not know, 

 but it seemeth, since we sec one hill behind another, that it 

 is so throughout the whole country. At the 3Itiscle-Jiaven 

 or 3IuscJc-Bay, we find plainer or leveller ground ; and the 

 farther we sail toward the east, the ground groweth the 

 lower, yet it is all stony, and with prospects of smaller hills ; 

 it doth not look at all as if it could be inhabited by men. 



I believe also the land there must of necessity be lower 

 and lower, for else we should sec it higher above the other, 

 as wc do the other mountains. 



