or the **ICY SEA**. By this name the ocean is distinguished which bounds the continent of Asia on the north, and which extends towards the north into the unknown regions of the pole, and of which the boundaries on the east and west are calculated to be Nova Zembla and Fohutski Noss. This sea has always been obstructed by an insurmountable barrier of ice at a short distance from the shores, all attempts to penetrate which by mariners have been found ineffectual. The short gleam of summer has very little effect in dissolving the masses of ice formed during the cold of winter, and the ice seldom breaks up until the 31st July; and thick fogs, which at a distance resemble islands in a haze, or vast columns of smoke, are seen constantly hovering over its surface. It is in clear weather, however, that the cold is most severe: at this time the thermometer frequently falls many degrees below zero, and at times the cold is so intense that the quicksilver freezes. There are several islands in this ocean, one of which was reached in the year 1770, by La-choff, a hunter, who, venturing out on this sea on a sledge drawn by dogs, reached an island sixty-six miles from the coast, when the ice appeared so rough that he could not proceed. In 1773 he discovered another island, in a boat, about 125 miles from the coast. These islands are inhabited by white bears and arctic foxes, and other animals common to the polar zone, such as rein-deer, foxes, wild sheep, as also the whistling marmot, which are also found on all the shores of this inhospitable sea. The bones of the mammoth are also found on all the islands and shores. Very irregular currents prevail in this ocean, and they run at very unequal rates. Few productions are to be seen in this ocean, either animal or vegetable. Whales are rare. The beluga is occasionally seen; and herrings, together with a small species of salmon, may be caught; but shell-fish are not to be found. The great Asiatic rivers which roll down the northern declivity of the Himalaya chain fall into this icy sea. These are the Obi, the Jenesei, the Lens, the Tana, and the Kovima. These are all large streams, by which the vast plain of northern Asia, extending from the Himalaya Mountains to the Icy Sea, is drained of its waters. The coast of this sea is formed by projecting promontories and shallow bays, and is covered with drift-wood from the mouth of the Kovima to Bacranof, in long. 168° 29' E.