The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

174 THE EUEOrEAN ISLANDS OF THE ARCTIC OCEAN.islands arc now lost amidst the advancing ice-fields.On the other hand, the massesformerly filling North Sound, a northern ramification of the Ijs-fiord, seem tohave retreated considerably inland.As on the Scandinavian seaboard, the traces of recent upheaval are numerous inthe archipelago. The old beach is everywhere met with at various elevations roundall the islands, sometimes rising 50, sometimes as much as 150 feet above sea-level.The amount of upheaval that has taken place in modern times may be studied bythe quantities of drift-wood, the remains of cctacea, and shells of still living speciesnow found far beyond the reach of the waves. Low Island, at the north-westangle of North-East Land, appears to be entirely of recent origin ;its rocks, inter-Fig. So.— " Eecherche " Bay in 1839.Scale 1 : 180,000.mingled with lakelets, seem scarcely yet quite dry, and in the interior spars anddrift-wood are found associated with the remains of whales. A chain of reefs iseven now slowly rising between the mainland and this new island, whose area isestimated at about 20 square miles.Climate, Fauna, and Flora of Spitzbekgen.Tempered by the marine currents and winds from the south-west, Spitzbergenshares in the general mildness of climate enjoyed by Scandinavia and the west ofEurope. In summer, if not the most agreeable, the climate is at least one of thehealthiest in the world, and the recent Swedish explorers unanimously declare thatit is superior even to that of South Scandinavia, and that there is perfect immunityfrom colds, catarrhs, and all affections of the chest. No ill effects follow from sudden