rctic regions are more interesting to read about than
pleasant to dwell in.

Having, then, defended the lights, let us commence our investigations
with the shadows.

Those oceans lying within the arctic circle exhibit phenomena so grand,
so wonderful, and so varied, that they claim distinct and separate
treatment from the ocean as a whole. Here the extreme cold acts with
such power, and produces such extraordinary results, that it is
difficult to find words or similes by which to convey a just conception
of nature's aspects to the general reader.

During nearly two-thirds of the year the arctic regions are under the
absolute dominion of winter; and for many weeks of that bitter season
they are shrouded with the mantle of a dark, sunless night. The entire
ocean is locked in the embrace of a covering of ice many feet thick, so
that its liquid aspect is thoroughly removed; and, owing to ice-masses
scattered over its surface, together with mounds of drifted snow, it
bears a much stronger resemblance to the land than to the sea. Gales of
wind sometimes sweep over those frozen plains in bitter fury, hurling
the snow into the air in vast eddying masses, and threatening
destruction to any living creature that may chance to be exposed to
them--not so much from their violence, however, as from the intense cold
of the atmosphere which is put in motion. But in regard to gales,
although there are no lack of them, they are neither so fierce nor so
frequent as are those of the torrid zone.

It might be supposed that in such a climate animal life could scarcely
exist; but such is not the case. The inhabitants of part of the arctic
regions, named Esquimaux (more correctly Eskimos, with the accent on the
last syllable), are a stout, hardy, healthy race and the polar bears,
foxes, wolves, seals, musk-oxen, walruses, etcetera, that dwell there,
seem to enjoy their existence just as much as do the animals of more
favoured and warmer climes.

During the short but hot summer of the arctic regions, the immense
masses of ice formed in winter are by no means cleared away. A great
part of the heat of early summer (there is no season there that merits
the name of spring) is spent in breaking up the solid crust of ice on
the sea, a large proportion of which is carried south by the currents
that flow to the equator, and melted long before they reach the
temperate zones. But a considerable quantity of broken ice-masses get
locked in narr