220 



THE JEANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



driftwood, and saw large 

 numbers of birds. Lieut- 

 enant Chipp, with Mr. Collins 

 and a boat's crew, explored 

 the south and west sides, and 

 promising reports came from 

 them. A fair quality of 

 lignite was found in several 

 places. Mr. Melville experi- 

 mented with it, and deter- 

 mined that it would be ser- 

 viceable fuel for steaming 

 purposes. 



The tidal action at the 

 island was very great, and 

 quite remarkable for this 

 part of the world. The ice 

 outside of us was in constant 

 motion, and seemed to be 

 lifted regularly with the rise 

 of the water. We had a tide- 

 gauge set up, and it was ob- 

 served every hour by Bartlett, 

 Ninclermann, and Lee. As I 

 remember, the greatest rise 

 and fall w r as about three feet; 

 they were regular six hour 

 tides. We were there near 

 the time of full moon, and 

 the 'vulgar establishment' 

 was properly established. At 

 Cape Emma the captain got a 

 set of equal altitudes of the 

 sun for chronometer error, 

 but the weather was gener- 

 ally misty and unfavorable 



