SPITZBERGEN. 



173 



vicissitudes in tlie recent period. Many of them seem to be at present increasing, 

 while others are contracting. That of Frithiof, facing Bell Sound, was in 1858 

 still separated from the sea by a broad muddy tract, crossed by a number of 

 rivulets. An eminence surmounted by a cross marked the grave of a sailor, and 

 the general appearance of the moraines showed that the ice was retreating. But 

 during the winter of 1860-1 the frozen stream rapidly expanded, filled all the inter- 



Fig. 84. — Spitzbergen Ice-fields in 1869. 

 Scile 1 : 10,000,000. 



\|7" Zi. Kn 



! "20 W of I'.irt.-. 



f P 



vrM^';_: ":'~"-f''K^'A^ ^Wr^^ Wiche'sLand 



Èiè-;^- 



N'orthC 





100 Miles. 



vening space, and overflowed far into the sea, completely blocking one of the best 

 havens in Spitzbergen, which had formerly been much frequented by whalers and 

 reindeer hunters. It is now one of the largest glaciers in the archipelago, and 

 very dangerous of access, owing to the frozen masses continually breaking away 

 seawards. The glaciers studied by the French explorers in 1838 in "Recherche " 

 Bay have also increased, greatly changing the aspect of this district. Similar 

 changes have been observed in Stor-fiord and the other large inlets, where former 



