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world at all seasons of the year. The
Varangerfjord receives the final eastward wash of the Gulf
Stream. It remains open during even the severest
winters. It is an estuary and natural harbour,
about fifty miles long, ten miles wide at its mouth,
and gradually narrowing. All the navies of the
world, ten times told, could ride in safety within
it, and it could be fortified with the greatest
facility.
To the east of this, i. e. within the Russian
frontier, there is the White Sea, and that portion
of the Arctic Ocean which is commonly inaccessible
during severe winters, on account of its frozen
shores; and therefore as worthless to a naval
power as the Baltic and the Gulf of Bothnia.
Thus the boundary of Northern Russia
corresponds to the limit of the Gulf Stream, and, by what
some may regard as a political providence, Russia
is kept on the wrong side of this beneficent current.
I was naturally desirous of seeing this inlet, that
may yet become historical. The Norwegians to
whom I have spoken care but little about it. I
suspect that Russian diplomatists are fully aware
of this, and therefore are not likely to pick a
quarrel for the sake of that which they may at any
time obtain by exchange of territory or other
moderate consideration.
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