to southern climates on the bosom of the ocean, but those prodigious lodgments of ice which occur in the valleys adjoining the coast of Spitzbergen and other polar countries, from which the floating icebergs seem to be derived. Those conspicuous bodies of ice noticed by voyagers, and known by the name of the seven icebergs, are situated a little northward of Charles Island.

The seven icebergs are each, on an average, about a mile in length, and two hundred feet in height, at the sea-edge. Somewhat to the north of Hornsound is the largest of the icebergs. It occupies eleven miles in length of the sea coast. The highest part of the precipitous front adjoining the sea is, by measurement, four hundred and two feet, and it extends backward towards the summit of the mountain to about four times that elevation. Its surface forms a beautifully inclined plane of smooth snow; the edge is uneven and perpendicular. Near the south cape lies another iceberg nearly as extensive. It occupies the space between two lateral ridges of hills, and reaches the very summit of the mountain in the back ground, on which it rests. It is not easy to form an adequate conception of these. truly wonderful productions of nature. Their. magnitude, their beauty, and the contrast they form with the gloomy rocks around, produce sensations of lively interest. Their upper surfaces are generally concave. The higher parts are always covered with snow, and have a delightful appearance; but the lower parts, towards the end of summer, present a bare surface of ice. The front of each, varying in height from the

level of the ocean from 400 to 500 feet, lies parallel with the shore, and is generally washed by the sea. This part, resting on the strand, is undermined to such an extent by the sea, when any way turbulent, that immense masses, loosened by the freezing of water lodged in the recesses in winter, or by the effect of streams running over its surface and through its chasms in summer, break asunder, and with a thundering noise fall into the sea. The front surface of icebergs is glistening and uneven. Wherever a part has recently broken off, the colour of the first fracture is a beautiful greenish blue, approaching to emerald green; but such parts as have been long exposed to the air are of a greenish grey colour, and at a distance exhibit sometimes the appearance of cliffs of whitish marble. In all cases the effect of the iceberg is to form a pleasing variety of prospect, with the magnificence of the encompassing snow-clad mountains, which, as they recede from the eye, seem to rise, crag above crag, in endless perspective. On an excursion to one of the seven icebergs in July 1818, we witnessed one of the grandest effects which these polar glaciers ever exhibit. A strong northwesterly swell having, for some hours, been beating on the shore, had loosened a number of fragments attached to the iceberg, and various heaps of broken ice, denoted recent shoots of the sea-ward edge. As we rowed towards it, with the view of proceeding to its base, we observed a few small pieces fall from the top, and while our eyes were fixed on the place, an immense column, probably fifty feet square, and a

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hundred and fifty feet high, began to leave the parent ice at the summit, and leaning majestically forwards, with an accelerated velocity, fell with an awful crash into the sea. The water into which it was plunged was converted into the appearance of vapour or smoke, like that of a furious cannonade. The sound was equal to that of thunder, which it nearly resembled. The immense mass, thus precipitated, broke into thousands of pieces.

Spitzbergen and its islands, with some countries within the Arctic circle, present a scenery novel and surprising. The principal objects that strike the eye, are innumerable mountains, peaks, ridges, precipices, or needles, rising immediately out of the sea to an elevation of 3000 or 4000 feet, the colour of which, at a moderate distance, appears to be blackish shades of brown, green, grey, and purple; snow or ice in stripes or patches, occupying the clefts and hollows in the sides of the hills, capping the mountain summits, and filling the valleys; ice of the glacier form, occurring at intervals, all along the coast, in astonishing accumulations. The glistening or vitreous appearance of the iceberg precipices, the dazzling whiteness of the sloping expanse formed by their snowy surfaces, the gloomy shade presented by the adjoining mountains and rocks, perpetually enveloped in a mourning veil of lichens, with the sudden transitions into a robe of purest white, where patches or beds of snow intervene, present a variety and extent of contrast altogether peculiar, which, when enlivened by the occasional ethereal bril

liancy of the polar sky, and harmonized in its serenity with the calmness of the ocean, constitute a picture sublime and magnificent. There is, indeed, a kind of majesty, not to be conveyed by words, in these extraordinary accumulations of snow and ice in the valleys, and on rocks above rocks, and peaks above peaks, in the mountain groups, seen rising higher than the ordinary elevation of the clouds, and terminating occasionally in crests of everlasting snow, especially when approaching the shore under the impenetrable density of a summer fog. In that case, the mist sometimes disperses like the withdrawing of a curtain, when the strong contrast of light and shade, heightened by a cloudless atmosphere and powerful sun, bursts on the senses in a brilliant exhibition. To this strong contrast of light and shade, with the great height and steepness of the mountains, is to be attributed a remarkable deception in the apparent distance of the land. Any strangers to the arctic countries, however capable of judging of the distances of coasts in general, must be completely at a loss in their computation when they are approaching Spitzbergen. When at the distance of twenty miles, it would be no difficult matter to induce, even a judicious stranger, to undertake a passage in a boat to the shore, from the idea of being within a league of the land. At this distance, the portions of rock and patches of snow, as well as the outlines of the hills, are as distinctly marked as similar objects in other countries void of snow would be, at a fourth or fifth of that distance. In clear weather, the high land of

Spitzbergen is clearly defined, and every thing upon it appears distinct, at the distance of forty

miles.

Scoresby.

ACCOUNT OF AN EXCURSION ON THE LAND OF SPITZBERGEN.

THE form of the mountain summit, which we visited, is round backed. The south side, by which we asccended, and the south east, are the only accessible parts, all the rest being precipitous nearly from top to bottom. From the brow of the mountain many masses of stone were dislodged of various size, shape, and weight, which made their way with accelerated velocity to its base. As they bounded from rock to rock, they produced considerable smoke at each concussion, and setting in motion numerous fragments in their course, they were usually accompanied by showers of stones, all of which were lodged in a bed of snow, lying two thousand feet below the points, whence they were separated. Most of the largest stones were broken into small pieces ; but some considerable masses of a tabular form wheeled down upon their edges, and though they made bounds of several hundred feet at a time, they sometimes reached the bottom without breaking. The prospect was grand and extensive. To the east, a fine sheltered bay, while an arm of the same appeared on the north-east; and the sea, whose glassy surface was unruffled by a breeze, formed an immense expanse on the west. The