them of serious and dangerous magnitude.

Arriving at Spitsbergen, he observes: The western coast presents alternate streaks of black and white. The former colour, consisting of ridges of naked rock, which appear black, contrasted with the brilliant whiteness of the snow: the latter of snow and ice, which 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 exhibited, as near as possible, the colour and splendour of the moon at the full. The ice and rocks being thus highly illuminated and strongly contrasted, being constructed on a majestic scale, and rising with peculiar steepness out of the sea, give a character to the Spitsbergen scenery highly striking, interesting, and indeed magnificent. The temperature in 79 deg. 31 min. was very severe. Water spilt upon a table within 3 yards of a hot air-stove, became ice. A damp hand applied to any metallic substance in the open air, stuck to it, and the tongue brought into contact with the same, adhered so firmly that it could not be removed without the loss of the skin.

soft steel bar on the top of the poker, and hammer it on the upper end, while both the poker and the bar are held vertically, or in the direction of the dipping needle: it then acquires strong magnetism, the upper end becoming a south pole, and the lower a north pole. By this means, amongst other cases, a knitting needle was made to lift twice its own weight. Experiments these of great importance to seamen, who are so dependant upon the In this mancompass. ner a magnetic needle might be made from a common nail, in a few minutes. When we reflect upon the risk of fire, shipwreck, and other casualties in which seamen put off in boats, at a moment's warning, without any such guidance, and further when we consider the cases in which a ship's compasses have been entirely spoiled by lightning, and in consequence the south pole has been mistaken for the north, and the ship has steered accordingly; we shall well know how to appreciate the value of Captain Scoresby's experiments. In a short time compound magnets were thus formed, which carried a weight of 18lb.; and Captain Scoresby thinks that such might be completed in about two hours from rods not having the slightest perceptive magnetism originally, to carry from 20 to 30lb.

In latitude 76 deg. 24 min. they found a large block of freshwater ice, weighing between two and three tons; it was remarkable for its purity and transparency. A small lens of this ice constructed with little care, readily ignited inflammable substances.

one

one of the field sports of those deserts of solemn stillness and eternal desolation, observe the following:

When the bear is found in the water, crossing from one sheet of ice to another, it may generally be attacked with advantage: but, when on the shore, or more especially when it is upon a large sheet of ice covered with snow, on which the bear supporting itself upon the surface with its extended paws, can travel with twice the speed of a man, who perhaps sinks to the knees at every step, it can seldom be assailed with either safety or success. Most of

the fatal accidents which have occurred with bears, have been the result of rencontres on the ice, or injudicious attacks made to such disadvantage.

A few years ago, when one of the Davis' Straits whalers was closely beset among the ice, on the south west, or on the coast of Labrador, a bear that had for some time been seen near the ship, at length became so bold as to approach alongside, tempted probably by the offal of the provision that had been thrown overboard by the cook. At this time the people were all at dinner, no one being required to keep the deck in the then immoveable state of the ship. A hardy fellow who first looked out, perceiving the bear so near, imprudently jumped upon the ice, armed only with a handspike, with a view, it is supposed, of securing all the honour of capturing so fierce a visitor to himself. But the bear, regardless of such weapons, and sharpened probably by hunger, immediately, it should seem, disarmed his antagonist, and seizing him by the

back with his powerful jaws, carried him off with such celerity, that on his dismayed comrades arising from their meal, and looking abroad, he was so far beyond their reach as to defy their pursuit.

An equally imprudent attack was made upon a bear in 1820, by a seaman employed in one of the Hull Whalers. The ship was moored to a large field of ice, on which at a considerable distance a large bear was observed prowling about for prey. One of the ship's company, emboldened by Rum, undertook to attack and pursue him armed with a whalelance only, and in spite of all persuasion. Half a league of yielding snow, and rugged hummocks, brought him within a few yards of the enemy, who, to his surprise, undauntedly faced him, and seem- . ed to invite him to the combat. His courage began to fail, he stopped and presented his lance; the bear also stood still; he shouted, made feints of attack, and advanced his lance, but the bear would not move. He began to tremble, the bear advanced, all his courage evaporated, and he turned round and fled. This was the time of greatest danger; the sailor's flight encouraged the bear to pursue, and he rapidly gained upon the sailor. The whale-lance, his only defence, encumbering him, he threw it down. This fortunately excited the bear's attention; he stopped, pawed it, bit it, and then resumed the chase. Again he was at the heels of the panting seaman, who, conscious of the favourable stratagem of the lance, dropped a mitten: the bear again stopped to examine it, and the sailor made considerable progress a head. So with another

mitten

mitten and a hat, which the bear tore to shreds between his teeth and paws. The sailor was rapidly losing ground, and was upon the point of being caught, when his shipmates, observing the affair had assumed a dangerous aspect, sallied out to his rescue; their line opened him a passage, and then closed to receive the bear. The sailor passed in safety, but fear so pursued him, that he did not cease running till he reached: the ship. The bear surveyed the line of his enemies, but, finding it too formidable, he wheeled about and made an honourable retreat.

I

Among the most remarkable phenomena of these high latitudes, are those optical deceptions caused by refraction. Upon one occasion a piece of ice seemed at the distance of two or three miles only, and as there was rock upon the top of it, Captain Scoresby sent the boats for a piece as a specimen. The boats to his great surprise, as well as of the men in them, rowed hard for two or three hours before they reached it, and, instead of being of the size judged by its apparent distance, it was higher than the mast head. At another time the land appeared suddenly to advance twenty miles nearer. Every object around was perpetually changing and assuming some fresh appearance. New masts, additional sails, and in some cases inverted images, many times larger than the original, appeared above the ship. The accumulated ice, assumed the forms of domes, temples, minarets, towers, spires, obelisks, pyramids, and other magnificent architectural structures; others appeared like large masses of rock suspended in the air, but in every

case perpetually changing to some other figure, sometimes, for instance, an obelisk, a castle, a cathedral, and then a bridge of one single single stupendous arch, stretching from mountain to mountain, over intermediate valleys, miles in width. But the most remarkable instance of refraction was the appearance of an inverted ship, in the midst of a clear blue sky. So perfect was the image, that when examined by a telescope, Captain Scoresby could distinguish every sail, and from the general "rig of the ship," he knew it to be his father's ship, the Fame, then thirty miles off and entirely out of sight, being seventeen miles beyond the horizon and some leagues beyond the limit of direct vision.

Among the objects of grandeur in the northern seas, the icebergs stand the most prominent. Of them Captain Scoresby counted at one time, in an area of sea twenty miles diameter, above 500; some 200 feet above the surface of the sea, one a mile in circumference. One he calculated to contain 1,575,000,000 cubic feet, and to weigh 45,000,000 of tons. Their general colour and appearance, is that of islands of chalk ; in recent fractures, however, the colour is a fine emerald green, and, where the light appears through a thin portion of the ice, a brilliant blue.

It is remarkable that many of them contained strata of earth, stones, and rock, which prove how long they must have existed in that state; indeed it is presumed they must necessarily have been formed by falling water either in showers or snows. The specimens of rock upon these icebergs, consisted principally of

gneiss,

gneiss, basaltic greenstone, some of it strongly magnetic, granular felspar, transition clay slate, hornblende, mica slate, a kind of granite, &c.

Among the peculiarities of this climate, may be reckoned the wonderful difference of temperature between the land and the sea, a difference of from 30 to 40 de grees, the heat on the shore being 70, while on board the thermometer never rose above 40. The land is, indeed, generally, more free from clouds than the sea. The sun sweeps for days together round the heavens without an intervening cloud or night. In such cases the heat is intense.Mr. Lloyd, captain of the Trafalgar, who accompanied Captain Scoresby, found it as great as in the East or West Indies, and the power of the sun gave some of the men a violent ophthalmic af fection. This constant action of the sun, without the suspension of night, produces an influence on vegetation, which exceeds perhaps any thing occurring even in the finest regions of the globe. The whole process of vegetation, from the seed in the ground to the flowering and seeding of another species, is all accomplished in a few weeks.

The line of country which Captain Scoresby either discovered or partially re-discovered, lies between 176 and 181 north latitude, and 18 to 23 west longitude; a map of this is well laid down in his work. The character of the coast he describes as generally mountainous and barren, the average height of the mountains being about 3000 feet above the level of the sea. Those which he called

the western mountains, he estimated at 6000 feet.

The zoology of these lands Captain Scoresby describes as follows: Quadrupeds, rein-deer, white hares, and a new species of mouse, which he called Mus Groenlandica: birds, ducks, brent, geese, partridges, plover, Greenland parrot, little hawk, petrel, tyste, loom, sea swallow, and the usual aquatic arctic birds: insects, butterflies, bees, moths, gnats, &c. The plants collected amounted to 46 species; of these the most interesting were, the Armica angustifolia, Stellaria nitida (new spec.) Pedicularis hirsuta, Lusula arcuata, and the Salix, of which the species is doubtful. No shells were seen, except two or three washed specimens of bivalves of no peculiar beauty. The sea in some cases was coloured for several leagues by large patches of a yellowish green colour; upon examination it was found to contain immense numbers of animalculæ, so small, that a drop of water, examined by a microscope of a power of 28.224, was found to contain 26.450 of these insects; and this was taken from a part by no means the most discoloured. Hence, reckoning 60 drops to a dram, there would be a number in a gallon of water, exceeding by one half the population of the whole globe.

Along the whole line of country discovered or re-discovered by Captain Scoresby, were found traces of inhabitants, but no inhabitants were actually seen. Some relics were of that peculiar nature, which seemed to prove the place had been visited but a few days only prior to the arrival of the dis

coverers:

coverers: ashes of wood and moss, which would have been removed by the snow of a winter, and in one case the carcase of a sea horse, with a harpoon, struck apparently but very little before. Huts and instruments of various kinds were very numerous, and perpetually occurring. These relics acquire additional interest from the circumstance of a colony of Norwegians having been planted in some of these parts about the year 878, which afterwards received considerable additions, into which it is said Christianity was introduced about the year 1000, and in the year 1121, Sigurd, King of Norway, installed Arnold a bishop over them. Crantz relates, that these colonies contained the bishop's see, two convents, sixteen parishes with churches, and 300 hamlets. Seventeen bishops had been sent out from Norway, who filled the see until 1408; the last was prevented from landing upon account of the ice, and it appears that all trade with the mother country was dropped at the same time. The probability is, therefore, that the colonists were impressed by a barrier of ice, which had so long prevented ships from reaching them, that they have been altogether lost to the world and forgotten. It has also been imagined that all supplies being cut off, the colonies became extinct.

This last conclusion, however, Captain Scoresby greatly doubts, as the Esquimaux live well upon their own resources on the same coast. Other causes given for their annihilation are only imaginary; such, for instance, as a plague, called the "black death,"

and the attacks of the aborigines of the country.

Some traces, however, of inhabitants have often since been discovered. In 1530 Bishop Arnold of Skalholt in Iceland, was driven by a storm so near the coast that he could see the people driving their cattle; but he did not land, because a favourable wind just then arose which brought the ship to Iceland; and John Groenlandra, a Hamburgh sailor, was driven three times upon the coast of Greenland, where he saw fishers' huts similar to what they have in Iceland; and in 1625, an entire boat, fastened with sinews and wooden pegs, was driven on shore in Iceland. Crantz mentions in 1752, a story of some Greenlanders who had made an excursion which took them three years, to a nation who had black hair and large beards, who were numerous, and their cattle plentiful; and others have mentioned seeing numbers of these East countrymen. Crantz thinks these were the relics of the old Norwegian colonists. Darts were also found, unlike those used by the Esquimaux, and a fox trap: all which Captain Scoresby thinks prove it to be more than probable that some remains of this people yet exist.

Many attempts have been made to discover these lost colonies; but every attempt, through the irresolution of the person to whom it has been confided, or the barrier of ice which has stretched along this coast, has been unsuccessful. It remains, however, a question and an enterprise of peculiar interest.

There are few occupations of more continued danger than the

whale