SPITZBERGEN— BEAR ISLAND— JAN MEYEN. 



135 



When the sun verges to the pole, every anmial becomes mute, and a silence 

 broken only by the bursting of a glacier reigns over the whole bay — a remark- 

 able contrast to the tropical regions, where Nature enjoys her repose during 

 the noonday heat, and it is only after sunset that life awakens in the forest 

 and the field. 



Four glaciers reach down this noble inlet : one, called the Wagon Way, is 

 7000 feet across at its terminal cliff, which is 300 feet high, presenting a mag- 

 nificent wall of ice. But the whole scene is constructed on so colossal a scale 

 that it is only on a near approach that the glaciers of Magdalena Bay appear 

 in all their imposing grandeur. In clear weather the joint effect of the ice un- 

 der the water, and the reflection of the glacier-wall above, causes a remarkable 

 optical delusion. The water assumes a milk-white color, the seals appear to 

 gambol in a thick cream-like liquid, and the error only becomes apparent when, 

 on leaning over the side of the boat, the spectator looks down into the trans- 

 parent depth below. 



It is extremely dangerous to approach these cliffs of ice, as every now and 

 then large blocks detach themselves from the mass, and frequently even a con- 

 cussion of the air is enough to make them fall. 



During the busy period of Spitzbergen history, when its bay used to be fre- 

 quented by whalers who anchored under the glacier-walls, these ice-avalanches 

 often had disastrous consequences. Thus, in the year 1619, an English ship 

 was driven by a storm into Bell Sound. While it was passing under a preci- 

 pice of ice, a prodigious mass came thundering down upon it, broke the masts, 

 and threw the ship so violently upon one side that the captain and part of the 

 crew were swept into the sea. The captain escaped unhurt, but two sailors 

 were killed and several others wounded. 



One day a gun was fired from a boat of the Trent when about half a mile 

 from one of the glaciers of Magdalena Bayo Immediately after the report of 

 the musket, a noise resembling thunder was heard in the direction of the ice- 

 stream, and in a few seconds more an enormous mass detached itself from its 

 front, and fell into the sea. The men in the boat, supposing themselves to be 

 beyond the reach of its influence, were tranquilly contemplating the magnificent 

 sight, when suddenly a large wave came sweeping over the bay, and cast their 

 little shallop to a distance of ninety-six feet upon the beach. 



Another time, when Franklin and Beechey had approached one of these ice- 

 walls, a huge fragment suddenly slid from its side, and fell with a crash into 

 the sea. At first the detached mass entirely disappeared under the waters, cast- 

 ing up clouds of spray, but soon after it shot up again at least 100 feet above 

 the surface, and then kept rocking several minutes to and fro. When at length 

 the tumult subsided, the block was found to measure no less than 1500 feet in 

 circumference ; it projected 60 feet above the water, and its weight was calcu- 

 lated at more than 400,000 tons. 



Besides the glaciers of Magdalena Bay, Spitzbergen has many others that 

 protrude their crystal walls down to the water's edge ; and yet but few ice* 

 bergs, and the largest not to be compared with the productions of Baftin's Bay, 

 are drifted from the shores of Spitzbergen into the open sea. The reason is 



