268 GREENLAND 



back with the sun in February they were as trouble- 

 some as those of Ice Haven to the Dutchmen. Several 

 sledge parties went out in the spring, and, notwith- 

 standing inadequate equipment, did excellent work. 

 In April, 1870, Koldewey reached 77 1', almost up to 

 Lambert Land, otherwise the Land of Edam. Here, 

 looking out over the ice-belt, they agreed that it was 

 "a bulwark built for eternity," and hoisting sails on 

 their sledges they ran back to the ship. But in 1905 

 the Duke of Orleans arrived on the coast to reach 

 78 16' and discover that their Cape Bismarck was on 

 an island and their Dove Bay a strait. 



In the neighbourhood of their winter quarters the 

 glaciers and mountains were well explored, and an 

 attempt was made to measure an arc of the meridian, 

 which proved to be rather rough work among such 

 surroundings. The snowstorms were particularly piti- 

 less and heavy, and the travelling decidedly bad. The 

 thaw began about the middle of May, and there was 

 more sledging through pools than usual, so that they 

 did not want variety in their occupations. On the 

 14th of July boating became practicable, and a voyage 

 was made to the Eskimo village found by Clavering 

 in 1823, on the island named after him, but the village 

 proved to be deserted and the huts in ruins an un- 

 welcome discovery, for, as M'Clintock says in reference 

 to it : "It is not less strange than sad to find that a 

 peaceable and once numerous tribe, inhabiting a coast- 

 line of at least seven degrees of latitude, has died out, 

 or has almost died out, whilst at the same time we find, 

 by the diminution of the glaciers and increase of animal 

 life, that the terrible severity of the climate has under- 



