SPITZBERGEN, a group of islands situated nearer to the arctic pole than any other country on the globe. It lies between 76* 30' and 80° 30' N. let., 9° and 22° E. long., between the Greenland Sea on the west, and Spitzbergen Sea, which separates it from Nova Zembla, on the east.
The group consists of four large and numerous smell islands. The largest island, Spitzbergen proper, extends from 76°30' to SO" N. ht ; a peninsula connected with it on the eastern aide, is called New Fries laud, or East Spitsbergen. South of New Friesland Is Edges Island, which is separated from New Friesland by a strait called Tymens Fiord, or Freeman's Inlet. This strait is somewhat more than 50 miles long, and less than 10 miles wide. Along the southern coast of Edges Island numerous small islands cover the sea to a distance of 15 miles from the shores, and this group goes by the name of the Thousand Islands. To the east of New Friesland lies North-East Land, which extends from 79' 10' to SO° 10' N. lat., and is divided from the larger island by the Henloopcn, or ifaygetz Strait, which is about 70 miles long, and varies in breadth from 4 to 11 miles. A considerable number of smaller islands are dispersed over the sea which surrounds North-East Land on the north and east, in Hen loopen Strait, and round the north-western coast of Spitzbergeu. At the distance of 12 to 15 miles from the western coast of Spitzbergen is Charles Island, or Forland, which is about 40 miles long. A long bay, called Weide Jans Water, with numerous inlets, runs north-north east between Spitzbergen Proper and Spitzbergen East and Edges Island, to the isthmus that connects the two former. To the north of the isthmus is Weide Bay, which runs south-west.) The west coast of Spitsbergen is mountainous. The mountains generally rise within three miles of the sea, but in several placca they commence at the coast. Between the shore and the mountains is a low level tract. It is commonly somewhat above the level of high water mark, but in some places it is below it, and only prevented from being covered by the sea by a natural bank of shingle of the height of 10 or 15 feet. The mountains, which fill the interior of the island, rise to between 3000 and 4000 feet above the sea. Many branches of them run westward, and come clam to the shore. Where these moun tain ridges are at no great distance apart from one another, the inter vening valleys, being of moderate extent, are filled with glaciers, which in several places constitute the very shores of the sea, forming • high perpendicular wall of ice from 100 to 400 feet high. The inland valleys, in all seasons, present a smooth and continuous bed of snow.
The southern extremity of Spitzbergen is called Point Look-Out, or South Cape ; a low fat, about 40 square miles in surface, constitutes the termination of the coast On the isthmus which joins this flat tract to the main body rises a mountain chain, which runs north, and soon attains a considerable elevation, as • largo glacier, or iceberg, lies here along the sea-shore. On the west coast, or 77' N. int, is a
wide bay, called Horn Sound, near the southern shores of which lies Mount Horn, or Hedge-Hog Mount, which has several summits, the highest of which Is 4395 feet, Horn Sound haa tolerable anchor age. A little to the northward of Horn Sound is a glacier of immense extent, occupying 11 miles of the sea-coast, and 400 feet thick. Bell Sound, another wide bay, occurs between 77' 35' and 77° 40' N. lat., and within it are several anchoring-places. North of 78' is Ico Sound, where good anchorage is found at Green Harbour. That portion of Spitsbergen which is south of 78' 50' N. lat. consists of groups of Isolated mountains, partly disposed in chains, having conical, pyra midical, or ridged summits, sometimes round backed, frequently terminating in points, and occasionally, in acute peaks not unlike spires.
To the north of 78' 50' N. lat. are English Bay, King's Bay, and Cross Bay, in which there is good anchorage. Near the head of King's Bay there are three piles of rocks of a regular form, called the Three Crowns. They rest on the top of a mountain, and each commences with a square table or horizontal stratum of rock, on the top of which is another of similar form and height, but of smaller area ; this Is continued by a third and fourth, and so on, each succeeding stratum beipg less than that immediately below it, until it forma a pyramid of steps, almost as regular as if it were worked by art. North of Cross Bay the mountains are more disposed in chains than farther south. An inferior chain of hills, six or nine miles from the coast, runs parallel to the shore, and from this chain several lateral ridges project into the sea. Between those lateral ridges are the Seven Icebergs, each of which is., on an average, about a mile in length, and about 200 feet high near the sea. The higher mountains terminate near 79" 35' N. lat., and the lower coast, which extends hence to the north, is indented by many small inlets, surrounded by numerous small islands of considerable height. In this part there are several very good harbours and anchorages, both in the inlets and between the islands, as Magdalena Bay, the excellent harbours of Smeerenberg, Fair Haven, Vogel Sang, the Norwaya, Love Bay, Heels Cove, in the Bay of Treurenburg, on Waygatz Strait, and others.