New American Cyclopædia, Vol. 4

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Excerpt from New American Cyclopædia, Vol. 4: Spiritualism-UzziahCharles island are 5 summits ranging from to feet high. The N. Shores of Spitzbergen and N orth-east Land are more level, and here and on several of the smaller islands some soil is found, in which a few very diminutive plants spring up and mature in a month or 6 weeks of the short summer. Im mense glaciers abound, and the islands are almost covered with perpetual snow. The mean temperature of the 8 warmest months is For 4 months of the year the sun does not rise, but the long night is relieved by a faint twilight, and the occasional brilliant ht of the aurora borealis, the moon and stars shine here with great brightness. The islands are frequented by great multitudes of sea fowl, as well as by polar bears, fox and reindeer. Marble and coal of a good qu 'ty are found. The ne' hboring seas abound with whales, an walruses, which are taken in large num rs by the vessels that visit this inhos itable region, and Russian whalers have lived or years on the islands - These islands are supposed to have been first discovered by Wil loughby in 1558, but their discovery is sr ally dated from the visit of Barentz, the utch navigator, in 1596, in his search for a N. E. Passage to the Pacific, who named the prin pal island Spitzbergen (pointed mountains from its numerous sharp peaks. Their sover ai-gnty is claimed by Russia. A Swedish scien c expedition under Prof. Torell explored Spitzbergen in the summer of 1861, whose re port is expected to form an im ortant addition to thifimvious knowledge of at region.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.