26 
GltEENLAND VOYAGE, 
In the evening, the wind coming off shore, the 
sky immediately became clear, and showed us a 
large extent of the northern coast of Spitzbergen. 
This coast is much lower land than the western, 
and more uniformly covered with snow, few ridges, 
or even points of naked land, being visible. The 
western coast, on the other hand, presents alter¬ 
nate streaks of black and white. The former co¬ 
lour, consisting of ridges of naked rock, which ap¬ 
pear black, contrasted with the brilliant whiteness 
of the snow, frequently runs from the summit di¬ 
rectly towards the base of the mountain, but of* 
toner becomes concealed beneath a bed of snow 
and ice, as it approaches the water’s edge: the 
latter colour, the white, consisting of snow or ice, 
fills all the ravines, dells, fissures, and valleys, and 
reflects the light of the sun with such intensity, 
that the tracts of snow-clad land exhibit, as near 
as possible, the colour and splendour of the moon 
at the full. The ice and rocks being thus high¬ 
ly illuminated, and strongly contrasted,—being 
constructed on a majestic scale, and rising with 
peculiar steepness out of the sea,—give a character 
to the Spitzbergen scenery highly striking, into-, 
resting, and indeed magnificent. 
As soon as we passed to the northward of Clo¬ 
ven Cliff, the north-western land of Spitzbergen, 
the whole of the northern coast was seen through 
