68 



HOBBS— CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 



[April 22, 



archipelago. This island is described by Due d'Abruzzi^*^ as "com- 

 pletely buried under one immense glacier, which descends to the sea 

 in every direction except at a few points, such as Cape Germania, 

 Cape Saulen, Cape Fligely, Cape Brorok, Cape Habermann and 

 Cape Auk. At some of these points, . . . the coast is almost per- 

 pendicular, which prevents the ice from descending to the sea. At 

 others, . . ., the ice, stopped by a hollow, falls into the sea on each 

 side of the headland, which thus remains uncovered. Moreover, 

 wherever the snow can rest, there are glaciers which end at the sea 

 in an ice-cliff, like that formed by the main glacier, so that it can 

 be said that the entire coast, with the exception of a short extent of 

 strand near Teplitz Bay, is formed by a vertical ice-cliff" (see Fig. 

 7). 



Fig. 7. Typical ice cliff of the coast of Prince Rudolph Island, Franz 

 Josef Land (after the Duke of the Abruzzi). 



The movement of the ice is so slow that though a line of posts 

 was established for the purpose of measuring during a period of 

 four months, no movement could be detected. Except near the 

 outermost margin, there were few crevasses, and these were covered 

 by snow. In summer, on days when the temperature was above 

 the freezing point, the snow thawed rapidly so that torrents of water 

 flowed from the glacier to the sea, hollowing out channels many feet 

 in width. 



During the stay of the "Polar Star" near the island, it was 

 "On the "Polar Star" in the Arctic Sea, 1903, Vol. i, pp. 116-118. 



