That however dependant the ice may have been on the land, from the time of its first appearance, to its gaining an ascendancy over the waves of the ocean, sufficient to resist their utmost ravages, and to arrest the progress of maritime discovery, at a distance of perhaps from six hundred to a thousand miles from the Pole, it is now evident, that the proximity of land is not essential, either for its existence, its formation, or its increase.

On the situation of the Polar Ice, and the effects produced on it by the change of seasons.

The mass of ice lying between Old Greenland on the west, and the Russian portion of Europe on the east, though varying considerably in particulars, yet as a general outline is strikingly uniform.

On the east coast of West Greenland, a remarkable alteration has, however, taken place. That part extending from the parallel of Iceland to Staten-Hook, was, before the fifteenth century, free of ice, and could always be approached in the summer season, without hinderance. After a considerable trade had been carried on between Iceland and the Main for upwards of 400 years, singular as it may appear, of a sudden the polar ice extended its usual limits, Launched down by the land to the Southern Cape, and so completely barricadoed the whole of the eastern coast, that it has not since been accessible. The fate of the wretched inhabitants is unknown; but they are generally supposed to have perished from the want of their usual supplies, or from the

increased coldness of their atmosphere.

In various countries, changes of climate to a certain extent have occurred, within the limits of historical record; these changes have been commonly for the better, and have been considered as the effects of human industry, in draining marshes and lakes, felling woods, and cultivating the earth: but here is an occurrence, the reverse of common experience; and concerning its causes I am not prepared to hazard any conjecture.

This icy barrier, at present, with each recurring spring, exhibits the following general outline. After doubling the southern promontory of Greenland, it advances in a north-eastern direction along the east coast, enveloping Iceland as it proceeds, until it reaches John Mayne's Island. Passing this island on the north west, but frequently enclosing it likewise, it then trends a little more to the eastward, and intersects the meridian of London in the 71st or 72d degree of latitude. Having reached the longitude of 6, 8, or perhaps 10 degrees east, in the 73d or 74th degree of north latitude, it suddenly stretches to the north, sometimes proceeding on a meri. dian to the latitude of 80°, at others forming a deep sinuosity, extending two or three degrees to the northward, and then south easterly to Cherry Island ;-which having passed, it assumes a direct course a little south of east, until it forms a junction with the Siberian or Nova Zemblan coast.

That remarkable promontory, formed by the sudden stretch of the ice to the north, constitutes

the

the line of separation between the east or whale-fishing, and west or sealing ice of the fishers. And the deep bay lying to the east of this point, invariably forms the only pervious track for proceeding to fishing latitudes northward. When the ice at the extremity of this bay occurs so strong and compact as to prevent the approach to the shores of Spitzbergen, and the advance northward beyond the lat.tude of 75° or 76°, it is said to be a close season; and, on the contrary, it is called an open season, when an uninterrupted navigation extends along the western coast of Spitzbergen to Hackluyt's Headland. In an open season, therefore, a large channel of water hes between the land and the ice, from 20 to 50 leagues in breadth, extending to the latitude of 79° or 80°, and gradually approximating the coast, until it at length effects a coalition with the north-western extremity, by a semicircular head. When the continuity of the mass of ice, intervening between West Greenland and Nova Zembla, is thus interrupted in an open season, the ice again makes its appearance on the south of Spitzbergen, proceeding from thence direct to Cherry Island, and then eastward as before.

Such is the general appearance of the margin or outline of the polar ice, which holds, with merely partial changes, for many successive seasons. This outline, how e er, is necessarily more or less affected by storms and currents: their more than ordinary prevalence in any one direction, must cause some variety of aspect in particular places, which becomes more especially apparent in the VOL. LIX.

vicinity of land, where its coasts. afford marks by which to estimate the advance and retreat of the ice.

The line formed by the exterior of the ice, is variously indented, and very rarely appears direct or uniform. Open bays or arms occur, from a few fathoms, to several miles in length. None of them, however, have any determinate form or place, except the "Whale-fisher's Bight," or great bay before described, in which the Greenlandmen ever seek a passage to the fishing stations.

The place where whales occur in the greatest abundance, is generally found to be in the 78th or 79th degree of north latitude, though from the 72d to the 81st degree they have been met with. These singular animals, which, on account of their prodigious bulk and strength, might be thought entitled to reign supreme in the ocean, are harmless and timid. They seem to prefer those situations which afford them the most secure retreats. Among the ice, they have an occasional shelter ; but so far as it is permeable, the security is rather apparent than real. That they are conscious of its affording them shelter, we can readily perceive, from observing that the course of their flight when scared or wounded, is generally towards the nearest or most compact ice. The place of their retreat, however, is regulated by various circumstances; it may sometimes depend on the quality and quantity of food occurring, the disposition of the ice, or exemption from enemies. At one time, their favourite haunt is amidst the huge and extended RN

masses

ther, in the open seas adjacent. Sometimes the majority of the whales inhabiting those seas, seem collected within a small and single circuit; at others, they are scattered in various hordes, and numerous single individuals, over an amazing extent of surface. To discover and reach the haunts of the whale, is an object of the first consideration in the fishery, and occasionally the most dificult and laborious to accomplish. In close seasons, though the ice joins the south of Spitzbergen, and thereby forms a barrier against the fishing stations, yet this barrier is often of a limited extent, and terminates on the coast of Spitzbergen in an open space, either forming, or leading to, the retreat of the whales. Such space is sometimes frozen over until the middle or end of the month of May, but not unfrequently free of ice. The barrier here opposed to the fisher, usually consists of a mass of ice from 20 to 30 or 40 leagues across in the shortest diameter. It is generally composed of packed ice, and often cemented into a continuous field by the interference of bay ice, which incredibly augments the difficulty of navigating among it.

As the time that can be devoted to the whale-fishery is, by the nature of the climate, limited to three or four months in the year, it is of importance to pass this barrier of ice as early as possible in the season. The fisher here avails himself of every power within his command. The sails are expanded in favourable winds, and withdrawn in contrary breezes. The ship is urged forward amongst

the wind, assisted by ropes and saws. Whenever a vein of water, as it is called, appears in the required direction, it is if possible attained. It always affords a temporary relief, and sometimes a permanent release, by extending itself through intricate mazes, amidst ice of various descriptions, until at length it opens into the desired place, void of obstruction, and the retreat of the whales.

The formidable barrier before described, is regularly encountered on the first arrival of Greenland ships in the month of April, but is generally removed by natural means as the season advances. However extensive, huge, and compact it may be, it is usually found separated from the land, and divided asunder by the close of the month of June; and hence it is, that however difficult and laborious may have been the ingress into the fishing country, the egress is commonly effected without particular inconvenience.

That the ice should envelope the whole coasts of Spitzbergen in the winter season, and expose the western shore about the month of June; that the ocean should be almost annually navigable on the meridians of 5° to 10° E., to the Soth degree of north latitude, whilst the ice in every other part of the world can rarely be penetrated beyond the 74th degree, are facts highly curious, and certainly worthy of consideration.

On the recession of the ice from the west side of the land, a lane of water must be left from one extremity to the other; while to the south of Point Look-Out, a

parallel

parallel motion of the ice leaves no opening or evidence of its change of place; for here, the ice meeting with no obstruction to cause it to divide, moves on in a solid body, retained firm and unbroken by the tenacious solder of the interjacent bay ice.

In the month of May, the severity of the frost relaxes, and the temperature occasionally approaches within a few degrees of the freezing point: the brine then exerts its liquefying energy, and Gestroys the tenacity of the bay ke, makes inroads in its parts by enlarging its pores into holes, diminishes its thickness, and, in the language of the whale-fisher, compietely rots it. The packed drift ice is then loosed; it submits to the laws of detached floating bodies, and obeys the slightest impulses of the winds or currents. The heavier having more stability than the lighter, an apparent difference of movement obtains among the pieces. Holes and lanes of water are formed, which anow the entrance and progress of the ships, without that stubborn resistance offered earlier in the spring of the year.

Bay ice is sometimes serviceable to the whale-fi-hers, in preserving them from the brunt of the heavy ace, by embedding their ships, and occasioning an equable pressure on every part of the vessel: but, in other respects, it is the greatest pest they meet with in all their Libours: it is troublesome in the fishery, and in the progress to the fasting ground; it is often the means of besetinent, as it is called, and thence the primary cause of every other calamity. Heavy ice,

many feet in thickness, and in detached pieces of from 50 to 100 tons weight each, though crowded together in the form of a pack, may be penetrated, in a favourable gale, with tolerable dispatch; whilst a sheet of bay ice, of a few inches only in thickness, with the same advantage of wind, will often arrest the progress of the ship, and render her in a few minutes immoveable. If this ice be too strong to be broken by the weight of a boat, recourse must be had to sawing, an operation slow and laborious in the extreme.

When the warmth of the season has rotted the bay ice, the passage to the northward can generally be accomplished with a very great saving of labour. Therefore it was, the older fishers seldom or never used to attempt it before the 10th of May, and foreigners are in general late. Sometimes late arrivals are otherwise beneficial; since it frequently happens, in close seasons, that ships entering the ice about the middle of May obtain an advantage over those preceding them, by gaining a situation more eligible, on account of its nearness to the land. Their predecessors, meanwhile, are drifted off to the westward with the ice, and cannot recover their easting; for they are encompassed with a large quantity of ice, and have a greater distance to go than when they first entered, and on a course precisely in opposition to the direction of the most prevailing winds. Hence it appears, that it would be economical and beneficial to sail so late, as not to reach the country before the middle of May, or to persevere

2N2

persevere on the seal catching stations until that time. There are, however, some weighty objections to this method. Open seasons occasionally occur, and great progress may sometimes be made in the fishery before that time. Also, although the majority of the ships do not commonly succeed in passing the barrier in close seasons before a certain period, yet some individuals, by superior exertion, perseverance, ability, or good fortune, accomplish the end considerably before the rest, and thereby gain a superiority in the fishery, not to be attained by later arrivals. A week or fortnight's solitary fishing, under these circumstances, has frequently gained half a cargo,an advantage of the most interesting importance, in a voyage of so limited duration, and where the success is supposed to depend so considerably upon chance.

That there is something resembling what is called chance or luck in the fishery, cannot be disputed; but that the fishery is altogether a chain of casualties, is as false as it is derogatory to the credit of the persons employed in the enterprize. For a person with a die to throw the highest point once in six times, is what might be expected from chance; but for him to throw the highest point many times in succession, would afford a presumptive proof, that he employed some art in casting the die. So it is with the fishery. The most skilful, from adventitious and unavoidable circumstances, may occasionally fail, and the unskilful may be successful; but mark the average of a number of years, (that is where the means

are equal,) and a tolerable estimate may be formed of the adventurer's fitness for his undertaking.

The change which takes place in the ice amidst which the whalefisher pursues his object, is, towards the close of the season, indeed astonishing. For, not only does it separate into its original individual portions,—not only does it retreat in a body from the western coast of Spitzbergen, but in general, that whole barrier of ice, which encloses the fishing site in the spring, which costs the fisher immense labour and anxiety. to penetrate, after retarding his advance towards the north, and progress in the fishery, for the space of several weeks,-spontaneously divides in the midst about the month of June, and on the return of the ships is not at all to be seen! Then is the sea rendered freely navigable, from the very haunts of the whales, to the expanse of the northern and Atlantic

oceans.

This quality of the ice is of the first importance to the navigator. It is this known property which gives him confidence in his advance, and enables him to persevere without restraint, calculating on an easy return. As one-half of the fishing season is often spent in the ingress, were the regress as arduous, the sailing would occupy the whole time: besides, the return would be rendered doubly hazardous by the prevalence of the summer fogs, which are thick in the extreme, and sometimes continue for days together, without any relaxation of density.

Were the barrier of ice not

passable, the haunts of the whales

could