THE EUROPEAN SEAS. 



35 



were published in a strictly scientific shape. In the 

 most valuable and interesting "Account of the 

 Arctic Regions," by Dr. Scoresby, Spitzbergen, well 

 known, through personal research, to that now emi- 

 nent author and philosopher, receives full attention, 

 and its natural history features are carefully noted. 

 Although a practised naturalist would scarcely fail, 

 if he visited it, greatly to enlarge the published 

 catalogues of the inhabitants of this barren but pic- 

 turesque island, the enumeration given by the author 

 cited, is of such a character, that we cannot doubt 

 that it includes the main features of its marine 

 fauna. 



Were it not for the peculiarities of its zoology, 

 Spitzbergen might rear its spiry peaks for ages un- 

 scanned by human eyes, and no voice of living man 

 be heard among its frozen solitudes. But strange 

 and bulky creatures, whose organization and habits 

 constitute their links between the land and sea, 

 throng in these dreary regions, and have chosen 

 them for their own. Seals of various kinds are 

 gathered there in herds; the fearless and bulky 

 walrus crowds on the icy edges of the desert island, 

 and with its human head and powerful tusks, seems 

 as if it were the guardian spirit of the enchanted 

 wastes. Than this animal there is none more cha- 

 racteristic of the Arctic province. Not less so, how- 

 ever, are the mighty whales, who career through the 

 waters of the Arctic Ocean : — 



