1885,J 285 [Rink. 



into the interior could be obtained. About forty miles in a straight line 

 had been passed over, but what miles ! No wonder that the explorers 

 were brought to a state of utter exhaustion. As soon as they had arrived 

 a strong gale arose, accompanied by a copious fall of snow and kept them 

 imprisoned in their miserable hut for seven days. The provisions had 

 not been calculated for such a sojourn ; the daily allowance therefore now 

 had to be restricted to three quarters of a pound of food. Several times 

 they tried to ascend the top of the hill, but in vain, on account of the 

 terrible snowstorm, until finally on tbe eiglith day they were released. 

 When the weather cleared a grand and peculiar scenery lay unfolded to 

 their sight. The mountain top was 5000 feet above the sea, while their 

 tent at the foot of it was at a height of 4000 feet. To the east a snow- 

 white plain was seen rising very gently and with no interruption what- 

 ever into the distant horizon. But to the south in their immediate vicinity 

 several other Nunataks emerged, raising their summits boldly over the icy 

 desert, and here the true origin of the ice over which they had passed was at 

 once plainly visible. Though apparently resting it could not have been 

 formed on the spot, but was brought thither from the interior of the conti- 

 nent. The Nunataks had been an obstacle to their movement, and the 

 traces of the enormous power against which they had to oppose their walls 

 were manifested in the disturbances they had caused. On the east side, 

 facing the interior, the ice was broken and piled up several hundred feet 

 against the rocks like the breakers of an ocean, while to the south, and 

 north and between the Nunataks it poured down like frozen waterfalls 

 to be embodied in and leveled with the crust over which the travelers 

 had passed. 



The rocky hill just spoken of was not wholly destitute of organic life. 

 In tbe moist and sheltered fissures a pretty large number of pl-\nts had 

 taken root, some of them with pretty flowers, such as Cerastium, Cam- 

 panula, Potentilla, Ranunculus, and on the very top, Papaver nudicanlis. 

 The travelers even gathered leaves of sorrel ( Oxyria digyna) as a contri- 

 bution to their scanty store of provisions. Of animals, a small bird and 

 some spiders were seen, the latter proving the existence of other insects. 



Maps have been prepared, illustrating the movements of the ice by indi- 

 cating how the huge, solid and fragile mass assumes the character of a 

 fluid substance. It is stopped by the Nunataks, but accelerates its course 

 when pressed between them. According to the maps the whole surveyed 

 area of the inland-ice in this place can be calculated at 450 square miles, of 

 which about 120 were less than 2000 feet above the sea. Considering that 

 the latter part as early as the 20lh of July was bare of snow and exposed 

 by melting, it will not appear impossible, that during the lapse of ages the 

 heat of the sun has counterbalanced the supply of ice from the interior. 



Exploration of the ice-fjords. — We have now to consider the more 

 violent actions of the inland-ice caused by the concentration of its move- 

 ments at certain points of the coast. Some have endeavored to classify 



