NORTH POLE OF THE WINDS 



absolutely essential, at least highly desirable, and 

 the Holstensborg district even upon the coast en- 

 joyed the reputation of having a somewhat dryer 

 atmosphere than neighboring sections of the Green- 

 land coast. The distinguished Swedish Polar Ex- 

 plorer, Dr. Otto Nordenskjold, had in 1909 gone 

 into the Holstensborg hinterland between the coast 

 settlements and the margin of the inland-ice, and 

 had reported still dryer conditions of atmosphere 

 as the ice is approached. I believed that this was 

 probably due to the protection afforded by the 

 long arm of ice which at a high level and to the 

 southward pushes outward toward the coast so 

 as to condense the moisture from clouds arriving 

 from the south and southwest. 



Late on the afternoon of the twenty-ninth, the 

 Morrissey got into the narrowing approaches to 

 the straits of Belle Isle, where to our delight we 

 found that the ice had already, under the influence 

 of the southerly winds, moved out into Davis Strait 

 leaving behind only a few growlers and isolated 

 larger bergs. By midnight we had passed the 

 Belle Isle light and early next morning were 

 going slowly ahead in a thick fog under our 

 engine power. As I emerged on the deck from 

 the after cabin, "Old Tom," who was at the 

 wheel, nodded his head toward the starboard beam 



8 



