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months, and that during four more the sun rises for only a very 

 short period above the horizon ; that during this long winter 

 mercury freezes and the human breath falls in snow flakes 

 through the air ; that the ground is almost entirely covered 

 with perpetual snow, even in Summer, and where it is exposed, 

 is of an icy hardness, it seems almost ridiculous to talk of 

 the " Flowers of Spitzbergen," and yet you see, flowers there 

 are. We were there in the very warmest part of the year — 

 August, when, as you know, there is constant daylight, and yet 

 even at the hottest portion of the day the thermometer never 

 rose as high as the freezing point. For you must remember, 

 although to counterbalance the long eight months of winter 

 the sun never goes below the horizon for four months of 

 summer, yet his rays penetrate so vast a thickness of the at- 

 mosphere, and finally strike the surface so obliquely that they 

 have very little heating properties left. I need scarcely say 

 there are no water plants in Spitzbergen, for the simple reason 

 that there are no rivers or brooks; the nearest approach being 

 a tiny trickling from the vast glaciers which occupy every 

 valley, and end abruptly at the sea. Very grand objects these 

 glaciers are. You may get some idea of them from this sketch 

 I made from the sea, representing their appearance at the 

 distance of 8 or lo miles. You would suppose, from their 

 appearance that they are much nearer, but this is in conse- 

 quence of the extreme and curious transparency of the arctic 

 atmosphere, which is most deceptive, as I remember to my 

 cost ; for one night being becalmed at a distance of (as we 

 supposed) 5 or 6 miles. Lord Duff"erin and myself started in 

 the small boat to pull ashore. In turn we pulled and pulled 

 for several hours without apparently getting any nearer ; our 

 pride would not allow us to return on board, and we had to 

 row the entire night before reaching the shore, which proved 

 to be some 30 miles off, and to increase our mortification, just 

 as we were preparing to land — our arms and necks bitten with 

 mosquitoes — the yacht quietly glided past us into a little 

 creek, and we could not fail to perceive the grin of enjoyment 

 of the men at our manifest discomfiture. The spot my sketch 

 represents is called the Seven Glaciers, and it presents a mag- 

 nificent appearance from the sea. It appears as though seven 

 gigantic rivers were suddenly arrested in their foaming and 

 tumultous course and stricken into ice ; the abrupt surface 



