322 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The scientific agitation fomented in Germany by the speeches and 

 writings of Dr. Petermann did not delay to bear fruit, although the 

 theory of the eminent geographer has not received the sanction of 

 direct proof, which it still awaits. In 1868 a first expedition, under 

 the command of Captain Koldewey, a sailor, educated at the scliool 

 for pilots in Bremen, set sail from the port of Bergen. Although im- 

 perfectly fitted out, it had for a special mission to take the bearings 

 of the northern prolongation of the east coast of Greenland. In case 

 the explorer could not attain this coast, he must endeavor to refind 

 on the east of Spitzbergen the famous land of Gillis, discovered in 

 1707 by the Norwegian Gilles, and since then forgotten and lost. The 

 Gerraania (such was the name of the ship chartered for this purpose) 

 dii'ected her course toward the eastern coast of Greenland ; but the 

 agglomeration of ice preventing her approach, she turned toward the 

 west coast of Spitzbergen, and then reascended toward the north a 

 little beyond the eighty-first degree. Although the expedition was 

 obliged to deviate from the path marked out, it was not without inter- 

 est for the progress of hydrography and physical geography. It dis- 

 covered that King William's Island, situated in the strait of Henlopen, 

 was really an island, as Scoresby had indicated in 1822 ; and it cor- 

 rected the boundary of Northeast Land, one of the largest islands of 

 Spitzbergen. Besides, the year 1868 did not appear to be favorable 

 for an attempt at landing on the east coast of Greenland, for the 

 Swedish steamer Sophia, which made the same attemj^t under the 

 command of Captain Baron de Otter, could not pass the icebergs, and 

 was obliged to return in October, a month after the Germania. 



The impulse once given was not allowed to diminish its force. 

 Thanks to the zeal of Dr. Petermann, seconded by an indefatigable 

 ship-owner of Bremerhaven, Mr. Rosenthal, the next year, 1869, num- 

 bered a dozen expeditions, almost all sent forth by the routes recently 

 reopened. In February, the screw-steamer Bienenkorb left the Weser 

 for the purpose of attempting a landing on the east coast of Greenland. 

 The ice once more prevented the success of the enterprise. In May, 

 another steamer, the Albert, commanded by Captain Haasgen and Dr. 

 Bessels, set out to make the tour of Spitzbergen, to explore the sea 

 between this land and Nova Zembla, and to discover, if possible, the 

 land of Gillis. None of these three objects Avere accomplished, but 

 the expedition determined more exactly the situation of the islands 

 southeast of Spitzbergen, and confirmed the assertions of Dr. Petermann 

 upon the distant extension of the Gulf Stream. The same year the 

 English Captain Palliser, having for an object to sail around the shores 

 of Nova Zembla, penetrated into the Sea of Kara, situated between 

 that island and the Samoiede peninsula, and sailed along the Siberian 

 coast, within a few leagues of White Island, without being at all im- 

 peded by the ice. Beliind him, the Norwegian Johannesen traversed 

 the same route twice without encountering any difiiculty. By this 





