MOSQUITOES. 15 



of Spitzbergen ; and if that should be nnap- 

 proachable from ice, then at Bell Sound on the 

 west coast. 



We had to wait three days for the boats to 

 be finished and painted, and, as may be sup- 

 posed, we soon exhausted the resources of 

 Hammerfest in the way of amusement. I 

 believe the principal fact in connection with 

 it is, that it is the northernmost town in 

 the world, being in lat. 70° 42' N., and long. 

 23° 35' E., yet from the influence of the 

 Gulf Stream the sea never freezes here. 

 Although great masses of snow still lay 

 on the hills, and even close down to the 

 water's edge, the weather was extremely 

 hot, and the mosquitoes as numerous and 

 annoying as I ever knew them in Africa or 

 America. 



There is a large, ugly, harny -looking, red- 

 tiled, and yellow-ochre painted wooden cathe- 

 dral, which looks, and I suppose is, big enough 

 to contain the entire population of the place ; 

 the latter amounts to about 1300, who mostly 

 live in miserable, rotten-looking wooden huts, 

 although the consuls and some few of the 

 principal merchants have excellent and well- 

 built houses. 



