132 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



Land and Washington alone lie nearer to the Pole ; but while these ice-block- 

 ed regions can only be reached with the utmost difficulty, the western and 

 north-western coasts of Spitzbergen, exposed to the mild south-westerly winds, 

 and to the influence of the Gulf Stream, are frequently visited, not only by 

 walrus-hunters and Arctic explorers, but by amateur travellers and sportsmen. 



The eastern coasts are far less accessible, and in parts have never yet been 

 accurately explored. As far as they are known, they are not so bold and in- 

 dented as the western and north-western coasts, which, projecting in mighty 

 capes or opening a passage to deep fjords, have been gnawed into every varie- 

 ty of fantastic form by the corroding power of an eternal winter, and justify, 

 by their endless succession of jagged spikes and break-neck acclivities, the 

 name of Spitzbei'gen, which its first Dutch discoverers gave to this land of 

 " serrated peaks." 



The mountains on the west coast are very steep, many of them inaccessible, 

 and most of them dangerous to climb, either from the smooth hard snow with 

 which they are encrusted even in summer, or from the looseness of the disin- 

 tegrated stones which cover the parts denuded by the sun, and give way un- 

 der the slightest pressure of the foot. 



More than one daring seaman has paid dearly for his temerity in ventui-ing 

 to scale these treacherous heights. The supercargo, or owner, of the very first 

 Dutch whaler that visited Spitzbergen (1612) broke his neck in attempting to 

 climb a steep mountain in Prince Charles Foreland, and Barentz very nearly 

 lost several of his men under similar circumstances. Dr. Scoresby, who in the 

 course of his whaling expeditions touched at Spitzbergen no less than seven- 

 teen times, was more successful in scahng a mountain 3000 feet high, near 

 Mitre Cape, though the approach to the summit was by a ridge so narrow that 

 he could only advance by sitting astride upon its edge But the panorama 

 which he beheld, after having attained his object, amply repaid him for the 

 danger and fatigue of clambering for several hours over loose stones, which at 

 every step rolled with fearful rapidity into the abyss beneath. 



" The prospect," says the distinguished naturalist, " was most extensive and 

 grand. A fine sheltered bay was seen to the east of us ; an arm of the same 

 on the north-east; and the sea, whose glassy surface was unrufiled by a breeze, 

 formed an immense expanse on the west ; the icebergs, rearing their proud crests 

 almost to the tops of the mountains between which they were lodged, and de- 

 fying the power of the solar beams, were scattered in vaiious directions about 

 the sea-coast and in the adjoining bays. Beds of snow and ice, filling extensive 

 hollows and giving an enamelled coat to adjoining valleys, one of which, com- 

 mencing at the foot of the mountain where we stood, extended in a continued 

 line towards the north as far as the eye could reach ; mountain rising above 

 mountain, until by distance they dwindled into insignificance ; the whole con- 

 trasted by a cloudless canopy of deepest azure, and enlightened by the rays of 

 a blazing sun, and the effect aided by a feeling of danger — seated, as we were, 

 on the pinnacle of a rock, almost surrounded by tremendous precipices ; all 

 united to constitute a picture singularly sublime. 



" Our descent we found really a very hazardous, and in some instances a 



