ClRfe^NtAND OR POtAR ICE* 



r^st the progress of maritime discovery, at a dis- 

 tance of perhaps from six hundred to a thousand 

 miles from the Pole, it is now evident. That the 

 the proximity of land is not essential, either tot 

 its existence, its formation, or its increase. 



On the situation of the Polar Ice^ and the effects 

 produced on it by the change of seasons. 



The mass of ice lying between Old Greenland 

 On the west, and the Russian portion of Europe 

 on the east, though varying considerably in parti- 

 culars^ yet has a general outline strikingly uni- 

 form. 



On the east coast of West Greenland, a re- 

 markable alteration has, however, taken place* 

 That part extending from the parallel of Iceland 

 to Sta ten-Hook, was, before the fifteenth century, 

 free of ice, arid could always be approached in 

 the summer season, without hinderance. After a 

 considerable trade had been carried on between 

 Iceland and the Main for upwards of 400 years, 

 singular, as it may appear, of a sudden the polar 

 ice extended its usual limits, launched down by 

 the land to the Southern Cape, and so completely 

 barricadoed the whole of the eastern coast, that 

 it has not since been accessible. The fate of the 

 wretched inhabitants is unknown ; but they are ge* 

 nerally supposed to have perished from the wan€ 



