the temperature is lower. The interior and the eastern islands are covered by great masses of ice, only the highest mountain peaks projecting above them. The waters along the east coast are navigable only in occasional years. In these regions the drift ice is carried by the current from the north and almost as far as Bear Island.

The west coast of Spitzbergen presents a picture of precipitous, snow-decked heights towering over an ice-clad land. Between these peaks glaciers protrude here and there towards ice-free shores, where they ultimately break asunder and plunge into the sea.

These mountains are not of exceptional height, although some few peaks reach 4 700 feet. The glaciers are not so extensive as those in Greenland. To the south of Ice Fjord there is a chain of mountains running along the coast, and these parts favour vegetation to a certain extent. On the east side the northern regions are also covered by inland ice.

The drift ice round the coasts is generally wrapped in mist, so that the land is not visible until the ship lies close under the mountainous coast. Later on in the autumn it is difficult to find water in these islands, for the rivers and streams freeze to the bottom, and ordinary springs do not exist. In the mining camps it is usual to secure a floe of drift ice by mooring in on the beach; lumps are then broken off as required and melted.

The Svalbard archipelago is connected with the European Continent by a submarine ridge. If the surface of the sea were to sink 110 yards Bear Island would then be joined to Spitzbergen. Between Norway and Svalbard the depth is nowhere above 650 yards. In remote ages Svalbard was geographically and geologically united to Norway. A little to the west of Svalbard, however, the bed of the sea makes a steep plunge to a great depth.

In the Icelandic annals for the year 1194 mention is made of the discovery of «Svalbard». Different views have been held as to the meaning of this reference, but the generally accepted opinion now appears to be that the Svalbard thus recorded must have been Spitzbergen.

Svalbard was subsequently rediscovered by the Dutch in 1596, during their attempts to find a passage to China north of Novaya Zemlya. The islands were visited in later years by whaling expeditions from many countries, and the fact that this land remained unoccupied gave rise to numerous conflicts. The vessels engaged in these expeditions were armed in order to secure whaling grounds, and there was constant fighting and even diplomatic complications between the rival forces. Following a compromise the coast was divided in 1618 into several zones.

despatching warships to those waters and also by making diplomatic representations to the powers.

The King primarily based his contention on the view generally held at that period, namely, that this new land constituted a geographical portion of the old Norwegian tributary country of Greenland, which in those days was presumed to extend northward round the «havbotn» and eastward towards Novaya Zemlya; and secondly, also on the supremacy of the old Norwegian kings over the Arctic, which was at that time recognised in principle. With reference to this claim a communication made to the French ambassador in 1634 contains the following: «All the islands in the Northern Seas have from ancient times been subject to the Norwegian Kings, who with their victorious arms and well-equipped fleets have subdued the northern coasts and the adjacent seas».

Norway's supremacy was maintained also in communications from Christian IV to the kings of Great Britain, France, and Spain, to the Spanish Netherlands, and to the Netherland States-General of February 18, 1616, in which he stated that whaling operations carried on by foreign nations at Spitzbergen would be permitted in the future only upon the understanding that his supremacy was recognised, and that licences were taken out and the proper dues paid for such whaling catches.

With regard to the arrangement arrived at between the interested countries, it can hardly be said to reflect any general recognition of Norway's supremacy over Spitzbergen. The action of the Dano-Norwegian King in nevertheless accepting this agreement must have been taken out of regard to good neighbourship and to the disadvantages of keeping the dispute going on indefinitely.

But whereas a clear conception of the supremacy of the Norwegian Crown over Svalbard prevailed in the seventeenth century, and continued to live in the eighteenth, it seems to have practically died out in the nineteenth century.

The first occasion on which this question arose was at a cabinet meeting at Stockholm in 1871, when the joint Swedo-Norwegian Foreign Minister urged that the Spitzbergen archipelago ought to be placed either under Swedish or Norwegian rule. Owing to its geographical position it must however naturally be regarded as belonging to Norway.It was proposed that the powers whose subjects visited these regions should be communicated with, and that a statement on the subject should be obtained from the Norwegian Government. This statement was to the effect that in the event of the question ever being raised of placing Svalbard under the dominion of any particular country, that country ought to be Norway. Favourable replies were received from all the foreign powers communicated with, except Russia, who expressed the desire that this group of islands should continue to be regarded as territory without any definite owner. It was resolved that the question of taking possession

During these conflicts, which were mainly between English and Dutch whalers, the Dano-Norwegian King maintained Norway's sovereignty over the country, and endeavoured to enforce this claim by