392 



THE POLAR WOULD. 



the question. Within the Arctic Circle we see vast continental masses project- 

 ing far to the north, so as to form an almost continuous belt round the icy 

 sea; while in the southern hemisphere, the continents taper down in a vast ex- 

 tent of open ocean. In the north, the plains of Siberia and of the Hudson's 

 Bay territories, warmed by the sunbeams of summer, become at that season 

 centres of radiating heat, so that in many parts the growth of forests, or even 

 the culture of the cereals, advances as high as 70° of latitude ; while the An- 

 tarctic lands are of a comparatively small extent, and isolated in the midst of 

 frigid waters, whose temperature scarcely varies from +29° 2' even in the 

 height of summer. Mostly situated within the Antarctic Circle, and constantly 

 chilled by cold sea-winds, they act at every season as refrigerators of the atmos- 

 phere. 



In the north, the formation of icebergs is confined to a few mountainous 

 countries, such as the west coast of Greenland or Spitzbergen ; but the Antarc- 

 tic coast-lands generally tower to a considerable height above the level of the 

 sea, and the vast fragments whicli are constantly detaching themselves from 

 their glaciers keep up the low temperature of the seas. 



In the north, the cold currents of the Polar Ocean, with their drift-ice and 

 bergs, have but the two wide gates of the Greenland Sea and Davis's Strait 

 through which they can emerge to the south, so that their influence is confined 

 within comparatively narrow limits, while the gelid streams of the Antarctic 

 seas branch out freely on all sides, and convey their floating ice-masses far and 

 wide within the temperate seas. It is only to the west of Newfoundland that 

 single icebergs have ever been known to descend as low as 39° of latitude ; but 

 in the southern hemisj^here they have been met with in the vicinity of the Cape 

 of Good Hope (35° S. lat.), near Tristan d'Acunha, opposite to the mouth of the 

 Rio de la Plata, and within a hundred leagues of Tasmania. In the north, final- 

 ly, we find the Gulf Stream conveying warmth even to the shores of Spitzbergen 

 and Nova Zembla ; while in the opposite regions of the globe, no traces of warm 

 currents have been observed beyond 55° of latitude. 



Thus the predominance of vast tracts of flat land in the boreal hemisphere, 

 and of an immense expanse of ocean in the Antarctic regions, suflaciently ac- 

 counts for the festival warmth of the former, and the comparatively low sum- 

 mer temperature of the latter. 



It is unnecessary to describe in detail each of the desolate lands which mod- 

 ern navigators have discovered among the Antarctic ice-fields, but it may not 

 be uninteresting to compare one or two of these dreary wastes with the lands 

 of the north, situated in analogous latitudes. 



The New Shetland Islands, situated between 61° and 63° of Southern lati- 

 tude, were originally discovered by Dirck Gheritz, a Dutch navigator, who, in 

 attempting to round Cape Horn, was carried by tempestuous weather within 

 sight of their mountainous coasts. Long forgotten, they were re-discovered in 

 1819 by Mr. Smith, a master in the royal navy — whom a storm had likewise 

 carried thither — and in the following year more accurately examined by Edward 

 Bransfield, whose name survives in the strait which separates them from D'Ur- 

 ville's Louis Philippe Land. 



