SPITZBERGEN BEAR ISLAND JAN MEYEN. 



131 



MIDNIGHT SUN OFF SPITZBEKGEN. 



CHAPTER X. 



SPITZBERGEN BEAR ISLAND JAN MEYEN. 



The west Coast of Spitzbergen. Ascension of a Mountain l>y Dr. Scoresby. His Excursion along the 

 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 byBarentz, Heemskerk, and Ryp. Brilliant 

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

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

 point (76 30' N. lat.) lies nearer to the Pole than Melville Island ; and Ross 

 Isletj 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 



