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PHENOMENA AND NATURAL HISTORY OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS,

IN
'N the volumes of Time's Telescope,
for the years 1820 and 21, we have
given some curious particulars of the
extraordinary effects produced by frost,
snow, ice, and cold, in the frozen re-
gions of the North; we now resume
the subject, and present our readers
with the result of our gleanings from
the interesting volume of CAPT. PARRY,
whose 'Journal of a Voyage inSearch

sound to break upon the silence, but the explosions of the ice, or the howling of the wolves; and no living thing to meet the eye, except some ravenous and half-famished animal.

Where the NORTH POLE, in moody solitude,
Spreads her huge tracts and frozen wastes around;
There ice-rocks piled aloft, in order rude,
Form a gigantic hall; where never sound
Startled dull Silence' ear, save when, profound,

Thrones him,-and fixed on his primæval mound,
Ruin, the Giant, sits; while stern Dismay
Stalks like some woe-struck man along the desert
way.

In that drear spot, grim Desolation's lair,

No sweet remain of life encheers the sight;

The dancing heart's blood in an instant there

Would freeze to marble. Mingling day and night (Sweet interchange which makes our labours light) Are there an unknown; while in the summer skies

The sun rolls ceaseless round his heavenly height,
Nor ever sets till from the scene he flies,
And leaves the long bleak night of half the year to
rise.

KIRKE WHITE.

of a North-West Passage from the The smoke-frost muttered: there drear Cold for aye Atlantic to the Pacific will form a noble monument (ære perennius) of the enterprise and talent of the author, and of the undaunted conduct and persevering industry of his companions. Captain Parry's account of the many singular facts which he collected, and the observations made by himself and officers in the course of the voyage, are circumstantial without being tedious, explicit without being commonplace, and interesting without the least art or attempt at effect. The plates which embellish this elegant volume are of a very superior description, and convey to the mind a most vivid and heart-chilling picture of the appearance of this desert region. The situation of the ships, at times, must have been tremendous; and nothing could have been more awful than to behold sea and shore, hill and valley, in short, Nature herself, under the aspect of one continued iceberg; no 3D ATHENEUM VOL. 10.

The effect which exposure to severe frost has, in benumbing the mental as well as the corporeal faculties, was strikingly exemplified in two young gentlemen of the Hecla, when they returned from a land excursion in these Hyperborean regions. On being sent for by Captain Parry, when they came into the cabin, they looked wild, spoke thick and indistinctly, and it was impossible to draw from them a rational

answer to any question he put to them. After being on board for a short time, the mental faculties appeared gradually to return with the returning circulation, and it was not till then that a looker-on could easily persuade himself that they had not been drinking too freely.

On the 26th of October, 1819, the sun afforded sufficient light for reading and writing from half-past 9 A. M. till half-past 2, the rest of the twenty-four hours being spent by candle-light. Nothing could exceed the beauty of the sky to the S.E. and S.W. at sun-rise and sun-set. About this period, near the horizon, there was generally a rich bluish purple, and a bright arch of deep red above, the one imperceptibly mingling with the other.

The effect produced by touching any metallic substance in the open air with the naked hand, exactly resembled that occasioned by the opposite extreme of intense heat, taking off the skin from the part affected. Whenever any instrument which had been for some time exposed to the atmosphere, so as to be cooled down to the same temperature, was suddenly brought below into the cabins, the vapour was instantly condensed all around it, so as to give the instrument the appearance of smoking, and the glasses were covered almost instantaneously with a thin coating of ice, the removal of which required great caution. When a candle was placed in a certain direction from the instrument with respect to the observer, a number of minute spicule of snow were likewise seen sparkling around the instrument, at the distance of two or three inches from it. (p. 113.)

About the latter end of October,to preserve the ships during winter, the crews in the face of snow-storms, cut a passage for them through the ice; the length of this canal was four thousand and eighty-two yards, and the average thickness of the ice seven inches. On the third day, they tracked the ships thro' the canal into winter quarters, where they were to remain for at least eight months; during three of which a glimpse of the sun would not be visible. Among other amusements, a weekly newspaper, called The North Georgia Gazette, was actually composed

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and chase the horrors of this wintry gloom;

Once more shall Spring her energy resume,

Once more shall Summer's animating ray
Enliven Nature with perpetual day:
Yon radiant orb with self-inherent light
Shall rise, and dissipate the shades of night,
In peerless splendour re-possess the sky,

And shine in renovated majesty.

In yon departing orb methinks I see

A counterpart of frail mortality.
Emblem of man! when life's declining sun

Proclaims this awful truth, thy race is run!
His sun once set. its bright effulgence gone,
All, all is darkness-as it ne'er bad shone!
Yet not for ever is man's glory fled,
His name for ever numbered with the dead :"
Like yon bright orb, th' immortal part of man
Shall end in glory, as it first began;

Like Him, encircled in celestial light,
Shall rise triumphant 'midst the shades of night;

Her native energies again resume,
And, bidding Death with all its terrors fly,
Dispel the dreary winter of the tomb,
Bloom in perpetual Spring through all eternity!

About this part of winter,(Nov.17)the breath and other vapour accumulated during the night in the bed places, and upon the beams of the ship, immediately froze; and the whole of the crew were often occupied during two or three hours in the day in scraping away the ice, in order to prevent the bedding from becoming wet by the increase of temperature occasioned by the fires. The bottles containing the lemon-juice began to burst, the whole contents be

ing frequently frozen into a solid mass, except a small portion of highly concentrated acid in the centre, which, in most instances, was found to have leaked out, so that when the ice was thawed it was little better than water. The vinegar also became frozen in the casks in the same manner. A few gallons of highly concentrated vinegar, which had been sent out on trial, resisted the effects of intense cold, and, when exposed to a temperature of 25° below zero, congealed only into a consistence like that of the thickest honey, but was never sufficiently hard to break any vessel which contained it. Vinegar and lemon-juice intended for use in these regions should be previously concentrated, and, if mixed with six or seven times the quantity of water,would answer every necessary purpose, and would take up less space in the stowage of the vessel.(Journal, p. 121.)

About the period of the shortest day, Captain Parry thus beautifully describes the situation of himself, his officers and crew, while, ice-bound and snow surrounded, they were compelled to winter in this inhospitable region. The officers (says he) were in the habit of occupying one or two hours in the middle of the day in rambling on shore, even in our darkest period, except when a fresh wind and a heavy snow-drift confined them within the housing of the ships. It may well be imagined, that, at this period, there was

little to be met with in our walks on shore, which could either amuse or interest us. The necessity of not excceding the limited distance of one or two miles, lest a snow-drift, which often rises very suddenly, should prevent our return, added considerably to the dull and tedious monotony which, day after day, presented itself. To the southward was the sea, covered with one unbroken surface of ice, uniform in its dazzling whiteness, except that, in some parts, a few hummocks were seen thrown up somewhat above the general level. Nor did the land offer much greater variety, being almost entirely covered with snow, except here and there a brown patch of bare ground in some exposed situations, where the wind had not allowed the snow to re

main. When viewed from the summit of the neighbouring hills, on one of those calm clear days which not unfrequently occurred during the winter, the scene was such as to induce contemplations, which had, perhaps, more of melancholy than of any other feeling. Not an object could be seen on which they could long rest with pleasure, unless when directed to the spot where the ships lay, and where our little colony was planted. The smoke which there issued from the several fires, affording a certain indication of the presence of man, gave a partial cheerfulness to this part of the prospect; and the sound of voices which, during the cold weather, could be heard at a much greater distance than usual, served now and then to break the silence which reigned around us,-a silence far different from that peaceable composure which characterizes the landscape of a cultivated country; it was the deathlike stillness of the most dreary desolation, and the total absence of animated existence. Such, indeed, was the want of objects to afford relief to the eye or amusement to the mind, that a stone of more than usual size appearing above the snow, in the direction in which we were going, immediately became a mark, on which our eyes were unconsciously fixed, and towards which we mechanically advanced.'

THOMSON has a magnificient description of these icy regions:

"The Muse

Thence sweeps the howling margin of the main;
Where undissolving, from the first of time,
Snows swell on snows amazing to the sky;
And icy mountains high on mountains piled,
Seem to the shivering sailor from afar.

Shapeless and white, an atmosphere of clouds.
Projected huge, and horrid, o'er the surge,
Alps frown on Alps; or rushing hideous down,
As if old Chaos was again returned,
Wide rend the deep, and shake the solid pole.
Ocean itself no longer can resist

The binding Fury; but, in all its rage
of tempest, taken by the boundless frost,
Is many a fathom to the bottom chained,
And bid to roar no more ; a bleak expanse,
Shagged o'er with wavy rocks, cheerless, and void

of every life, that from the dreary months
Flies conscious southward. Miserable they
Who here, entangled in the gathering ice,
Take their last look of the descending sun;
While full of death, and fierce with tenfold frost,
The long, long night incumbent o'er their heads,
Falls horrible..... The hapless crew,

Each full exerted at his several task, Froze into statues; to the cordage glued The sailor, and the pilot to the helm."

About the last mentioned period (Dec. 21), the return of each successive day had always been very decidedly marked by a considerable twilight for some time about noon, that on the shortest day allowing two hours for walking out. There was usually, in clear weather, a beautiful arch of bright red light, overspreading the southern horizon for an hour or two before and after noon, the light increasing, of course, in strength, as the sun approached the meridian. Short as the day now was (if indeed any part of the 24 hours could properly be called by that name), the reflection of light from the snow, aided occasionally by a bright moon, was at all times sufficient to prevent our navigators from experiencing, even under the most unfavourable circumstances, any thing like the gloomy night which occurs in more temperate climates.

The following lines, forming part of some very excellent Reflections on the Morning of Christmas-day, 1819,' while they afford a pleasing illustration of Capt. Parry's description just given, fully evince that, whatever tendency the cold might have to consolidate every thing in the shape of a liquid, it had not the power to freeze the genial current of the soul of poesy,' or to bind in its icy adamantine chains the everwelling stream that flows from the fountain of Hippocrene :—

Rich from the blushing East no glory darts
Techase the shadowy night;-but all is gloom,

Save where the moon's young crescent o'er the snows

Emits a trembling radiance, faintly seen

Through mists obscure; or sparkling, seen on high,
The countless myriads of the stars diffuse
Their distant,glimmering, scarce-enlightening rays!t

Behind yon cloud a stream of paly lightt
Shoots up its pointed spires; again immerged,
Sweeps forth with sudden start, and, waving round
In changeful forms, assumes the brighter glow
Of orient topaz-then as sudden sinks
In deeper russet, and at once expires!

North Georgia Gazelle.

On the 11th of January, 1820, the

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greatest degree of cold was experienced, the thermometer having fallen to fortynine degrees below zero, but, the weather being quite calm, we walked on shore (observes Captain Parry) for an hour without inconvenience, the sensa tion of cold depending much more on the degree of wind at the time, than on the absolute temperature of the atmosphere as indicated by the thermometer.' That violent sensation said to be produced on the lungs (like rending them asunder) when the air is inhaled at a very low temperature, was never experienced by our arctic navigators, though, in passing from the cabins into the open air, they were constantly in the habit, for some months, of undergoing a change of from 80 to 100°, and, in several instances, 120° of temperature,in less than one minute; and, what is still more extraordinary, not a single inflammatory complaint (except a common cold) occurred during this particular period. On opening the doors at the top and bottom of the hatchway ladders, the vapour was immediately condensed by the sudden admission of the cold air into a visible form, exactly resembling a very thick smoke, which settled on all the pannels of the doors,&c. and immediately froze, by which means the latter were covered with a thick coating of ice, which was necessary frequently to scrape off; but the vapour was not, on any occasion, converted into a sudden shower of snow, as is related by several early travellers in Spitzbergen and other cold countries.-Journal, p. 134.

During the lowest degree of temperature (fifty-five degrees below zero) not the slightest inconvenience was experienced from exposure to the open air, by a person well clothed, as long as the weather was perfectly calm; but walking against a very light air of wind a smarting sensation was experienced all over the face, accompanied with a severe pain in the middle of the forehead. The increased length of the day (Febrnary 15,) and the cheering presence of the sun for several hours

See a most beautiful engraving of an· Arctic night-scene,' in Capt. Parry's Journal Aurora Borealis.

"Going out in a winter morning for the purpose of taking a walk, and, before you have proceeded ten yards from the ship, getting a cold bath in the cook's steep hole.*

above the horizon,* induced me (says mour, in the celebrated Gazette, so of Captain Parry) to open the dead-lights ten quoted; a truly entertaining misof my stern-windows, in order to admit cellany in any part of the world. The the daylight, of which, in our occupa-Miseries' (happily for our intrepid tions below, we had entirely been de- seamen) were not considered very nuprived for more than four months. I merous, as the following only are recihad soon, however, occasion to find ted by Old Comical :-that this change was rather premature, and that I had not rightly calculated on the length of the winter in Melville Island. The Hecla was fitted with double windows in her stern, the interval between the two sashes being about two feet; and, within these, some curtains of baize had been nailed close in the early part of the winter. On endeavouring now to remove the curtains, they were found to be so strongly cemented to the windows by the frozen vapour collected between them, that it was necessary to cut them off, in order to open the windows; and from the space between the double sashes, we removed twelve large buckets of ice, or frozen vapour, which had accumulated in the same manner.' (p. 145.)

These curious facts, just detailed, give a lively description of the privations to which the persons engaged in the arctic expedition were continually exposed. A pleasant jeu d'esprit, on this subject, appeared in the North Georgia Gazette, in which the writer is described as 'composing himself to rest beneath the cumbrous weight of six blankets, over which is stretched a warm wolf's hide.' He is then roused from sleep, and is shivered awake' by leaning his elbow against the ice. Beautiful crystals meet his eye in every direction, but, illumined by the candle's rays,' they soon liquefy and drop over him, forming a most delightful North Georgia Shower Bath. These are some of the Arctic Miseries; others are related, with much good hu

'When on a hunting excursion, and being close to a fine deer, after several attempts to fire, discovering that your piece is neither primed nor loaded, while the animal's four legs are employed in carrying away the body.

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Setting out with a piece of new bread in your pocket on a shooting party, and, when you feel inclined to eat it, having occasion to observe that it is so frozen that your teeth will not penetrate it.

'Being called from table by the intelligence that a wolf is approaching the vessels, which, on closer inspection, proves to be a dog; on going again below, detecting the cat in running off with your dinner.

'Returning on board your ship after an evening visit in a contemplative humour, and being roused from a pleasing reverie by the close embrace of a bear.

Sitting down in anticipation of a comfortable breakfast, and finding that the tea, by mistake, is made of salt water.'

The distance at which sounds were heard in the open air, during intense cold, afforded matter of considerable surprise: people were often heard distinctly conversing in a common tone of voice at the distance of a mile. At a distance of two miles from the ships, smoke which had passed from then

* The splendid Sun, with reascending ray
Sheds o'er the northern world the flood of day.
Lost in the blazing radiance, sable Night
Resigns her empire to the kindling light.
Serenely clear, the heaven's blue concave glows,
And glittering sun-shine gilds the mountain snows.
Precursive of the general fire, a stream

Of reddish light shoots up its bounteous gleam;
The conscious skies the blushing tint extend,
Till with their azure dye its glories blend.

A hole in the ice, for steeping salt meat, &c.

N. Georgia Gazelle.

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