1885.] 281 [Rink. 



quantity of snow necessary for producing them. No wonder therefore 

 that modern polar expeditions liave considered the exploration of the 

 northernmost part of Greenland one of their cliief objects. An expedi- 

 tion has lately concluded which tried to advance in this direction ; what 

 these travelers have performed will certainly for ages not be surpassed. 

 The frightful sufierings which they endured, their martyrdom in the 

 service of science, give evidence of the desolate condition, the terrible 

 climate of the coasts they have discovered. In this way the exploration 

 of that part of Greenland can be considered as concluded for the present, 

 and it might perhaps be of some interest to see what has been performed 

 during the latest years with regard to physico-geographical investigation 

 of what we might call Southern Greenland. The fact is, that since 1876 

 the Danish government has constituted a more systematic survey of the 

 Danish districts conformably to a plan proposed by Professer of Mineralogy, 

 P. Johnstrup, namely by sending small parties of travelers with the trading 

 ships. While in Greenland they had to depend on the means of convey- 

 ance existing there. Besides surveying and drawing maps, their aims 

 were chiefly geology and mineralogy, occasionally other branches of 

 natural history, and archaeology. 



If we supposed that Greenland did not extend further towards the north 

 than to the extreme point discovered by the Greeley expedition, its cir- 

 cumference according to a line drawn through tJie projecting points, 

 omitting the indentations or inlets, might be calculated at 3600 miles, of 

 which the Danish districts make 1000 miles. Of these the expeditions in 

 question have surveyed 670 miles, or an area of 28,000 square miles of 

 coast land including the branches of the sea intersecting it, the fjords and 

 sounds. In Greenland these inlets represent the only highways ; where 

 they end, the vast glacier that covers the whole interior begins, and this 

 has only exceptionally been ascended by travelers. Of course these jour- 

 neys have not been exempt from the troubles and dangers connected with 

 all sorts of Arctic traveling, and required both courage and perseverance, 

 but on the other hand it is a matter of course, that the vicinity of our 

 trading-stations on the coast offered the expeditions a support that enabled 

 them to give more detailed information about the localities visited, than 

 was possible in most cases to the polar expeditions in the far more desolate 

 regions where they wintered or passed by. 



The travelers who in different parties have performed these investiga- 

 tions to the summer of 1883 included, have been : Geologist K. J. V. 

 Steenstrup (eight summers and two winters) ; Lieutenants of the Navy 

 G. Holm (four summers), R. Hammer (three summers and one winter), 

 and A. D. Jensen (three summers) ; Geologists A. Kornerup (three sum- 

 mers) and Sylow (two summers) ; Painter Groth (two summers) ; Super- 

 numerary Officer Larsen ; Lieutenant of the Navy Garde ; Geologists 

 Knutsen (Norwegian) and Petersen ; Botanist Eberlin (all of whom one 

 summer). The traveling parties of 1884 will be briefly mentioned at the 

 close. 



PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XXII. 120. 2.1. PRINTED APRIL 25, 1885. 



