2 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



is interesting on the subject ; but to this the writer has not had 

 access. The only accounts in English, it is believed, are those of 

 that learned whaling-Captain W. Scoresby, Jun., in his 'Account 

 of the Arctic Regions,' (1820, i. p. 154, et seq.), and the still 

 slighter sketch given by Lord Dufferin in that charming book, 

 1 Letters from High Latitudes.* Scoresby spent some hours in 

 the N.E. portion of the island on the 4th of August, 1817, and 

 also surveyed the east coast line. From his observations Jan 

 Mayen is in length about 30 miles from N.E. to S.W., and is 

 nowhere more than 9 miles in breadth. It is situated on the 

 edge of the polar pack, which in the winter and early spring 

 extends from the east coast of Greenland in a N.E. direction, 

 and is usually surrounded by ice in the spring. The coast on 

 the north and east and part of the west consists of a kind of 

 wall, generally precipitous and inaccessible, and with but few 

 stretches of beach for landing upon. On the N.E. coast are 

 three very singular glaciers occupying recesses in the cliff, here 

 1284 ft. high and nearly perpendicular, extending from the base 

 of Mount Beerenberg down to the water's edge, and have the 

 appearance of immense cataracts congealed instantly by intense 

 frost. In general appearance Jan Mayen is strikingly like 

 Spitzbergen both in colour and character. The small portion of 

 the island explored bore evidence everywhere of ancient and 

 recent volcanic action. Two volcanos were discovered in close 

 proximity,* and fragments of lava were numerous, and blocks of 

 burnt clay occurred in abundance, whilst the sand on the beach 

 was a coarse black mixture of iron-sand, augite, and pyroxene. 

 The most remarkable feature of the island is the wonderful 

 mountain Beerenberg, or Bear Mountain, which rises at the 

 northern extremity of the island almost perpendicularly to a 

 height of 6870 ft. This, Scoresby says, sinks every other object 

 into comparative insignificance, since it rises in majestic im- 

 portance into the region of perpetual frost, and he was able to 

 see it from the deck of his vessel when at a distance of from 95 

 to 100 miles. Plants were found to be scarce, and a considerable 

 distance was travelled before the least sign of vegetation was 

 encountered, but afterwards, scattered among the volcanic minerals, 



* Scoresby and other whaling- captains saw one of these volcanos on 

 Jan Mayen in action in the spring of 1818, 



