28 Chapter I. 



between Spitzbergen and Greenland. The sea here, 

 so far as we know it, is at all points very deep ; there is, 

 indeed, a channel of as much as 2,500 fathoms depth ; 

 while south of Spitzbergen and Franz Josef Land it is 

 remarkably shallow, not more than 160 fathoms. As 

 has been stated, a current passes northwards through 

 Bering Strait ; and Smith Sound, and the sounds 

 between the islands north of America, though here, 

 indeed, there is a southward current, are far too small 

 and narrow to form adequate outlets for the mass of 

 water of which we are speaking. There is, therefore, 

 no other assumption left than that this mass of water 

 must find its outlet by the route actually followed by 

 the polar current. The channel discovered by the 

 fcanncttc Expedition between Wrangel Land and the 

 New Siberian Islands may here be mentioned as a 

 notable fact. It extended in a northerly direction, and 

 was at some points more than 80 fathoms deep, while 

 at the sides the soundings ran only to 40 or 50 fathoms. 

 It is by no means impossible that this channel may be 

 a continuation of the channel between Spitzbergen and 

 Greenland,* in which case it would certainly influence, if 

 not actually determine, the direction of the main current. 

 "If we examine the conditions of wind and atmo- 

 spheric pressure over the Polar Sea, as far as they 



The discovery during our expedition of a great depth in the polar 

 basin renders it highly probable that this assumption is correct. 



