for difcovering ^ N o R T fi-Vv E s T Pa s s a G E. 
Chap. L 
tliofe fharp ^pointed Ificles before-mentioned, ftriking 
jnore forcibly on a windy Day than in calm Weather, 
thereby penetrating the naked Skin, or Parts but thinly 
covered, and caufe an acute Senfation of Fain or Cold. 
And the fame Reafon, I think, will hold good in other 
Places ; for fhould the V/ind blow Northerly any thing 
hard for many Days together, in Engla?id^ the Ificles 
that would be brought from the Polar Parts, by the Con^ 
tinuance ’ of fuch a Wind, though imperceptible to the 
naked Eye, would more fenfibly affeft the naked Skin, 
or Paits but lightly covered, than when the Thermome- 
ter has ihewn a greater degree of freezing, and there has 
been little or no Wind at the fame Time. 
It is not a little furprizing to many, that fuch extreme 
Cold fhould be felt in thefe Parts of America^ more than 
in Places of the fame Latitude, on the Coaft of Norway ; 
but the Difference I take to be occafioned by the Winds 
blowing conftantly here, for feven Months in the twelve, 
between the North-eaft and North-weft, and pafling over 
a large Traft of Land, and exceeding high Mountains j 
(Ac. as before-mentioned. Whereas at Drontheim in Nor- 
way^ as I obferved fome Years ago in wintering there, the 
Wind all the Winter comes from the North and North- 
north- weft', and croftes a great Part of the Ocean, clear 
of thoft large Bodies of Ice we find here perpetually* 
At this Place we have conftantly, every Year, nine 
Months Froft and Snow, and unfufferable Cold, from 
OAoher to the Beginning of May. In the long Winter, 
as Air becomes lefs ponderous towards the polar Parts, and 
nearer to an Equilibrium, as it happens about one Day in 
a Week, we then have Calms and light Airs all round 
about the Compafs continuing fometimes four and twenty 
Hours, and then back to its own Place again, in the fame 
Manner as it happens every Night in the }FeJi Indies^ 
near fome of the Iflands. 
The Snow that falls here is as white and fmall as Duft, 
but never any Hail except at the Beginning and End of 
Winter: Almoft every Full and Change of the Moon, 
very hard Gales from the North. 
The conftant Trade-Winds in thefe northern Parts, I 
think undoubtedly proceed from the fame Principle 
which our learned Dr. Haley conceives to be the Caufe of 
the Trade-Winds near the Equator ; and their Variation. 
“ Wind, fays he, is moft properly defined to be the 
“ Stream or Current of the Air, and where fuch Current 
is perpetual and fixed in its Courfe, it is neceflary that 
it proceed from a permanent and unintermitting Caufe, 
capable of producing a like conftant Effeft, and agree- 
“ able to the known Properties of Air and Water, and 
“ the Laws of Motion of fluid Bodies. Such an one is, 
“ I conceive, the Aflion of the Sun’s Beams upon Air 
and Water, as he paffes every Day over the Oceans, 
confidered together with the Nature of the Soil, and 
“ Situation of the adjoining Continents : I fay therefore, 
“ firft, that according to the Law of Statics ; the Air 
“ which is lefs rarefied and lefs ponderous, muft have a 
Motion towards thole Parts thereof which are more 
“ rarefied, and lefs ponderous, to bring it to an Equili- 
“ brium,” (Ac. 
Now that the cold denfe Air, by reafon of its greater Gra- 
vity, continually paffes from the Iblar Parts to the Equa- 
tor, where Air is more rarefied, to preferve an Equili- 
brium, or Balance of the Atmofphere, I think is very 
evident from the Wind in thofe frozen Regions blowing 
from the North and North-weft, from the Beginning of 
Odlober until May •, for we find that when the Sun, at the 
beginning of June^ has warmed thofe Countries to the 
Northward, then the South-eaft, Eaft, and variable 
Winds continue till OEloher again •, and I do not doubt 
but the Trade-Winds and hard Gales may be found in 
the Southern polar Parts, to blow towards the Equator 
when the Sun is in the Northern Signs, from the fame 
Principle. 
- The Limit of thefe Winds from the polar Parts to- 
wards the Equator, is feJdom known to reach beyond 
the 30thDegree of Latitude; and the nearer they approach 
to that Limit the ftiorter is the Continuance of thefe 
Winds, In New England it blows from the North near 
<c 
cc 
cc 
four Months; in the Winter ; at Canada., about five 
Months ; at the Danes Settlements in Streight Davis^ in 
the 63d Degree of Latitude, near feven Months ; on the 
Coaft of Nortvayy in 64 Degrees, not above five Months 
and a Half, by reafon of blowing over a great Part of 
the Ocean, as was before mentioned ; for thefe northerly 
Winds continue a longer, or flrorter Space of Time, ac- 
cording to the Air’s being more or lefs rarefied; which 
may very probably be altered feveral Degrees, by the 
Nature of the Soil, and the Situation of the adjoining 
Continents. 
The vaft Bodies of Ice we meet With in our PaiTagefrom 
England to HudfoAs Bay, are very furprlfing ; not only as 
to the Number, but Magnitude. . It is in truth unac- 
countable how they are formed of fo great a Bulk, fome 
of them being immerfed a hundred Fathoms or more 
under the Surface of the Ocean, a fifth or fixth Part above^ 
and three or four Miles in Circumference : Some hundreds 
of thefe we fometimes meet in our Voyage here, all in Sight 
at once if the Weather is clear ; fome of them are fre- 
quently feen on the Coafts and Banks of Newfoundland 
New England, though much diminifhed. 
When I have been becalmed in Hudfon's Streights, for 
three or four Tides together, I have taken my Boat and 
lain clofe to the Sides of one of them, founded, and 
found a hundred Fathoms Water all round it. The Tide 
floweth here above four Fathoms, and I have obferved 
upon a Body of Ice, the Tide to rife and fall that Dif- 
ference ; which was a Certainty of its being a-ground ; 
Likewife, in a Harbour in the Ifland of Refolution, where 
I continued four Days, three of thefe Iflands of Ice (as we 
call them) came a-ground ; I founded along by the Sides 
of one of them quite round it, and found thirty-two 
Fathoms Water, and the Height above the Surface but 
ten Yards, another was twenty-eight Fathoms under, 
and the perpendicular Height but nine Yards above the 
Water. 
I can in no other manner account for the Aggregation 
of fuch large Bodies of Ice ; but that along the Coafts of 
Streight Davis, both Sides of Baffin" s Bay, HudfoDs 
Streights, Anticofii or Labradore, the Land is very high 
and bold, and a hundred Fathom and more clofe to the 
Shore. Thefe Shores have many Inlets or Firths, the 
Cavities of which are full of Ice and Snow by the almoft 
perpetual Winter there, and frozen to the Ground, in- 
creafing for four, five, or feven Years, till a kind of 
Deluge, or Land-flood, which commonly happens in 
that Space of Time throughout thofe Parts, breaks them 
loofe and launches them into the Streights or Ocean, where 
they are driven about by the variable Winds and Currents, 
in the Months of Jmie, July, and Augufl, rather increafing 
than diminifhing in Bulk, beihg furrounded (except irl 
four or five Points of the Compafs) with fmaller Ice for 
many hundred Leagues ; and Land covered all the Year 
with Snow, the Weather being extreme cold for the moft 
Part in thofe Summer Months. The fmaller Ice that al- 
moft fills the Streights and Bays, and covers many 
Leagues out into the Ocean along the Coaft, is from four 
to ten Fathoms thick ; and chills the Air to that Degree 
that there is a conftant Increafe to the large Ifles, by the 
Sea’s wafliing againft them, and the perpetual wet Pegs 
like fmall Rain, freezing as they fettle upon the Ice; and 
their being fo deeply immerfed under Water, and fuch 
a Imall Part above, prevents |:he Wind’s having much 
Power to move them ; for though it blows from the 
North- weft Quarter near nineMonths in twelve, and con- 
fequently thofe Ifles are driven towards a warmer Climate, 
yet the progreffive Motion is fo flow, that it muft take up 
many Years before they can get five or fix hundred 
Leagues to the Southward : I am of Opinion, fome 
hundred Years are required ; for they cannot, I think, 
diffolve, before they come between the 50th and 40th De- 
grees of Latitude ; where the Heat of the Sun confumlng 
the Upper-parts, they lighten, and wafte in Time ; yet 
there is a perpetual Supply from the Northern Parts, 
which will fo continue as long as itpleafes the Author of 
all Beings to keep Things in their prefent State» 
