152 THE FOREST LANDS OF NORTHERN RUSSIA. 



drawing breath." In many parts of Lapland the days in 

 summer are bright, serene, and warm, and the season, 

 though short, remarkably healthy and delightful. At 

 Alteiigaard, as observed by Baron Von Buch, in 79 North 

 Lat. the thermometer generally stood at 70 or 72 in 

 July ; and the mean temperature of the month was 

 nearly 63.' 



One consequence of the peculiarities of climatic condi- 

 tion is that most of the ports of the White Sea are frozen 

 in winter, while Norwegian ports of a much higher latitude 

 to the west of the White Sea remain open, and this not- 

 withstanding the temperature on land there being lower 

 than it is along the northern coast of Russia. 



On this subject an interesting paper by Professor Daa, 

 of the University of Christiana, was read at the Interna- 

 tional Congress of Students of Geographical Science, held 

 in Paris in 1876. The following is a summary of this 

 paper: 



It is generally kuown that the navigation of all the 

 Russian ports on the White Sea is interrupted by ice 

 during many months of the year, while the Norwegian 

 coast remains open ; and this remarkable difference has 

 been attributed to the influence of the Gulf Stream, which 

 moderates the climate of the country, but has no influence 

 on that of the other. This opinion in regard to the con- 

 trast of climate in the two parts of the same sea is so 

 rooted in the public opinion, that it is found in quite a 

 number of publications, and yet, as a physical theory, it is 

 destitute of any foundation. The frontier separating the 

 two countries is altogether an artificial and arbitrary one. 

 The Gulf Stream does not terminate at that point ; it 

 flows on to Nova Zembla, and it moderates in this way the 

 climate of all these latitudes. 



It is nevertheless the case that the Norwegian ports in the 

 Arctic Ocean Tromsoe, Hammerfest, Sandoe, and Vardoe 

 are never frozen during the winter, while the Russian 

 towns of K.ila, Kem, Onega, Archangel, Mezen, and Pusto- 

 zersk, are shut off by the ice for many months every year. 



