172 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



posed by him to consist of three large and many smaller isl- 

 ands lying in the throat of the polar stream that pours round 

 Spitzbergen. 



A still later announcement from Dr. Petermann contains 

 the result of the investigations by Captain Nils Johnson in 

 the same region as that explored by Captain Altmann. 



Captain Johnson sailed on the 8th of May in the twenty- 

 six-ton yacht Lydiona, with a crew of nine men, starting from 

 Tromso, in Norway. By the end of June he had reached a 

 point fifty miles east-southeast of the islands of East Spitz- 

 bergen, in the middle of the usual position of the polar stream, 

 which generally carries great quantities of ice toward Spitz- 

 bergen and the Bear Islands. It seems, however, that during 

 the present summer this current had a more easterly direc- 

 tion, toward Nova Zembla, leaving the western half of the 

 sea free from ice. 



By the 16th of August he had reached 78 18' north lati- 

 tude and 30 east longitude, and shortly afterward came in 

 sight of land, which first appeared on the maj)S in 181V as 

 Wiche Land. The captain anchored near the point of this 

 land, in 79 8' north latitude and east longitude 30 15', for 

 the purpose of exploration and fishing, and for supplying him- 

 self with drift-wood, which had accumulated in great amount 

 along the shore. Ascending a mountain near the coast, he 

 soon found that what Captain Altmann had supposed to be 

 three large islands were in reality connected together so as 

 to form a continuous body of land, with several outlying isl- 

 ands. The east and southeast coast of this land was traversed 

 in the course of several successive days, the whole body of 

 water, as far as the eye could see, being wholly destitute of 

 ice. Birds, seals, and reindeer were found in great abun- 

 dance, and immense piles of drift-wood extended along the 

 coast twenty feet above the highest tidal mark, furnishing 

 important hints in regard to the physical history of that re- 

 gion. Further details are promised by Dr. Petermann in 

 subsequent numbers of the Mittheilungen. Circular from 

 Dr. Petermann, October 10, 1872. 



PAYEE-WEYPEECHT EXPEDITION. 



The latest advices received by Dr. Petermann in regard to 

 the expedition of Messrs. Payer and Weyprecht were dated 



