292 
A VOYAGE TO SPITZBERGEN. 
Barentsz would not be persuaded that they had not 
been deceived, which caused wagers to be laid. The 
25th and 26th there was too thick a fog to deter¬ 
mine the dispute; but the 27th was a clear day, 
and the entire orb of the sun was seen abo\’e the 
horizon, whence there could remain no doubt that 
a part had been visible on the 24th. The journalist 
has been at pains to shew, that they had not erred 
in their reckoning of time, as might be conjectured 
from their having been so long without seeing the 
sun. Nothing is said of refraction, and probably it 
was not thought of, or was ill understood, and seldom 
allowed for in maritime observations at that earlj 
period. 
From the 4th of November, when they wholly lost 
sight of the sun, to its reappearance, January the 24th,, 
was eighty-one days. The middle time may be sup¬ 
posed the winter solstice, and the declination of the 
sun corresponding to forty and a half days from the 
time of the solstice, is 17° 24' S. The latitude being 
66° N. will give 93° 24' for the distance of the sun 
(its centre) from the zenith, when its northern limb 
was first seen. Allowing 16' for the suiTs semi¬ 
diameter will leave about three degrees for the refrac¬ 
tion and depression of the horizon, the latter of which 
was probably under a quarter of a degree. The effect 
