A VOYAGE TO SPITZBERGEN, ETC. 145 



considerable masses of drift ice, the floes becoming gradually- 

 denser and more formidable as we advanced. Shortly afterwards, 

 off Vogelsang Island, in 79' 55" north lat., the solid ice-barrier 

 of the Polar Pack definitely arrested all further progress. The 

 Pack, impinging on the land at JS'orske Oer, to the east of us, 

 extended all round on the north, and thence trended south west, 

 leaving only a narrow lane of open water. The spectacle pre- 

 sented fi'om the masthead at this point was unspeakably grand. 

 It was just midnight — one of those calm clear nights which are 

 characteristic of the Arctic seas — and the cold bright rays of the 

 northern sun lent a peculiar prismatic hue to the silent scene, 

 beautifying all they touched. To the north, as far as eye could 

 reach, lay, stretched in silently-defiant majesty, the rugged 

 plains of Polar ice, here and there distorted and upheaved into 

 ridges and hummocks, the threshold of the unknown region, 

 impregnable hitherto even to the pluck and science of the nine- 

 teenth century. Por all we could tell the ice was continuous to 

 the Pole itself, within seven hundred miles of which we lay. 

 On our starboard was Vogelsang : its black cliffs and snowy 

 slopes reflected faultlessly in the rippleless sea, as in a mirror ; 

 while ice-floes of every conceivable shape studded the water 

 around. 



The Polar ice which now lay before us marks the summer 

 limit of the Gulf-Stream influence. It marks the battle field of 

 two great contending influences of E'ature, one from the tropics, 

 the other from the pole. The exact position of the ice-edge varies 

 in different years to some extent. In open seasons, at irregular 

 intervals, the sea is found to be clear of ice as far as the Seven 

 Islands, in 80° 45" north lat,, or even much further, as in 

 1863, when Carlsen sailed round I^ord-Ost-land, and circumnavi- 

 gated Spitzbergen. But this is exceptional. The normal posi- 

 tion of the permanent ice, at that season, appears to be pretty 

 constant where we found it on that July night in 1881, just 

 impinging on the N.W. corner of Spitzbergen. Prom near this 

 point in 1827 Parry set out on his memorable attempt to reach 

 the North Pole by sledging across the Pack, attaining an altitude 

 of 82° 45" north latitude. 



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