SPITZBERGEN— BEAR ISLAND— JxlN MEYEN. 



131 



MIDNIGHT SUN OFF SPITZBERGEN. 



CHAPTER X. 



SPITZBERGEN— BEAR ISLAND— JAN MEYKN. 



The west Coast of Sj itzbergen. — Ascension of a Mountain by Dr. Scoresby. — His Excursion along tlie 

 Cojst.— A stranded Whale.— Magdalena Bay.— Multitudes of Sea-biids. — Animal Life.— Midnight 

 Silence. — Glaciers. — A dangerous Neighborhood. — Interior Phitcau. — Flora of Spitzbergen. — Its 

 Similarity with that of the Alps above the Snow-line. — Reindeer. — The hyperborean Ptarmigan. — 

 Fishes. — Coal. — Drift-wood. — Discovery of Spitzbergen by Barentz, Heemskerk, and Ryp. — Brilliant 

 Period of the Whale-fishery. — Coffins. — Eij,ht English Sailors winter in Spitzbergen, 1630. — ^lelan- 

 choly Death of some Dutch Volunteers. — Russian Hunters.— Their Mode of wintering in Spitzber- 

 gen. — Scharostin. — Walrus-ships fro n Hammerfest and Troms ). — Bear or Cherie Island — Bennet. 

 — Enormous Slaughter of Walruses. — Mihlness of its Cliiiia'e. — INIount Misery. — Adventurous Boat- 

 voyage of some Norwegian Sailors. — Jan Meyen. — Beerenberg. 



^T^HE archipelago of Spitzbergen consists of five large islands : West Spitz- 

 bergen, North-east Land, Stans Foreland, Barentz Land, Prince Charles 

 Foreland ; and of a vast number of smaller ones, scattered ai'ound their coasts. 

 Its surface is about equal to that of two-thirds of Scotland : its mos^; southern 

 point (76° 30' N. lat.) lies nearer to the Pole than Melville Island ] and Ross 

 Islet, at its northern extremity (80° 49' N. lat.), looks out upon the unknown 

 ocean, which perhaps extends without interruption as far as the Straits of 

 Bering. 



Of all the Arctic countries that have hitherto been discovered, Grinnell 



