XI 



TO KING CHRISTIAN ISLAND 



TN Sherard Osborn's journal, under date of April 29, 

 •*• 1853, appears the following passage: 



About thirty miles to the N. W. (or more), I distinctly saw 

 land looming; it appeared extensive, and I took the bearing of the 

 two parts of it and not the extremes. 



This land was seen from the northwestern extremity 

 of Bathurst Island and was called Finlay Land. 



On April 27, 1901, Isachsen and Hassel, of the Sver- 

 drup Expedition, when sledging along the southern 

 shores of Ellef Ringnes Island, descried a land which 

 was subsequently named King Christian Island. 



Geographers have considered Finlay Land and King 

 Christian Island to be one and the same land, the 

 southern part in 76° 53' N. and the northern in 77° 50', 

 with an area of some 3,000 square miles. Up to the 

 date of our sailing, the unity of these two lands had been 

 accepted without question. To encircle, map, and ex- 

 plore one or both was the task assigned to me in ac- 

 cordance with our plans for a survey of the region north 

 of the Parry Islands, as announced by the American 

 Museum of Natural History. 



"Strong northeast wind with heavy drift" is the 



