In some sheltered spots in south Greenland, especially along the borders of the fiords, there are meadows where the service-tree bears fruit, beech and willow trees grow by the streams, but not taller than a man; still farther north the willow and juniper scarcely rise above the surface; yet this country has a flora peculiar to itself. South of the island of Disco on the west coast, Danish colonies and missionaries have made settlements on some of the islands and at the mouths of fiords; the Esquimaux inhabit the coasts even to the extremity of Baffin’s Bay. The pelasgic islands in the Arctic Ocean are highly volcanic, with the exception of Spitzbergen. In the island of Spitzbergen the mountains spring sharp and grand from the margin of the sea in dark gloomy masses, mixed with pure snow and enormous glaciers, presenting a sublime spectacle. Seven valleys filled by glaciers ending at the sea form a remarkable object on the east coast. One of the largest masses of ice seen by Captain Scoresby on the island was north of Horn Sound: it extended 11 miles along the shore, with a sea-face in one part more than 2000 feet high, from which he saw a huge fragment hurled into the sea, which it lashed into vapour, as it broke into a thousand pieces. The sun is not seen for several months in the year, when the intensity of the cold splits rocks, and makes the sea reek like a boiling caldron. Many have perished in the attempt to winter in this island, yet a colony of Russian hunters and fishermen lead a miserable existence there, within 10° of the pole, the most northern inhabited spot on the globe. Although the direct rays of the sun are powerful in sheltered spots within the Arctic Circle, the thermometer does not rise above 45° of Fahrenheit. July is the only month in which snow does not fall, and in the end of August the sea at night is covered with a thin coating of ice, and a summer often passes without one day that can be called warm. The snow-blink, the aurora, the stars, and the moon, which appears ten or twelve days without intermission in her northern declination, furnish the greatest light the inhabitants enjoy in their long winter. Iceland is 200 miles east from Greenland, and lies south of the Arctic Circle, which its most northern part touches. Though a fifth part larger than Ireland, not more than 4000 square miles are habitable, all beside being a chaos of volcanos and ice.