V. THE ICE. 



The extremely low temperature of the summer, and 

 still more that of winter, and the consequent precipitation 

 of water in solid form, i.e., of snow, produce the mighty 

 ice covering of land and sea which impress on both the 

 polar regions their characteristic feature, and without 

 which we cannot so much as imagine the higfh latitudes 

 of our globe. There exists, however, as great a difference 

 in both the sea ice and the glacial or land ice of the 

 northern and southern polar regions as between their two 

 climates, especially their summer temperatures. In the 

 lands of high northern latitudes there are extensive tracts, 

 where, in the warm season, after the snow has melted, 

 not only the bare rocks appear, but there are surfaces 

 covered with a vegetation that under the circumstances 

 might even be called luxuriant. Spitzbergen, situated 

 between 78° and 8o° N., supports large herds of reindeer, 

 lemming rats and Alpine hares ; the same holds good both 

 of East and West Greenland — the home of an abundant 

 fauna — and of the true polar regions of Northern Asia and 

 America. The Antarctic regions, on the other hand, ex- 

 hibit nothing of the kind. Excepting on the island of South 

 Georgia, situated in latitude 54 to 55° S., i.e., at a polar 

 distance corresponding to that of Northern England, and 

 in the South Shetland Isles, we find that only in summer 

 the snow disappears in places, but even there not very 

 extensively, whilst all the rest of these southern lands 

 lie even at midsummer wholly buried under snow and 



ice. In high northern latitudes gigantic icebergs drift 



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