GEOGRAPHY. 251 



Arthur, 4,500 feet Ligh. From here could be seen an enormous ice cap 

 on the mountains north of the Garflekl and Conger Eanges, through the 

 gorges of which numerous glaciers pushed southward, while to the 

 northwestward the trend of the mountain range showed its connection 

 with the Challenger Mountains of Lieutenant Aldrich. Lieutenant 

 Greely found the southern limit of the ice cap covering Grinnell Land 

 to closely coincide with the eighty-second parallel, while in July the 

 country between the eighty-first and eighty-second parallels, extend- 

 ing from Kennedy and Eobeson Channels to the Western Polar Ocean, 

 was entirely free from snow except on the very backbone. Vegetation 

 was found to be quite plentil'ul willows, saxifrage, grasses, and other 

 plants growing in abundance. A more detailed account of this remark- 

 ably fertile region, such as Nordenskiold expected to find in Greenland, 

 will shortly be given by Lieutenant Greely. 



In 1883 Lieutenant Lockwood's attempt to reach the northern point 

 of Greenland was unsuccessful, owing to open water, but on his return 

 to Fort Conger he was sent with Sergeant Brainard and a dog-team to 

 attempt the crossing to the western shore of Grinnell Land. They suc- 

 ceeded in reaching Greely Fiord, which penetrates Grinnell Land from 

 the westward, and followed it some distance. From here the western 

 shore of Grinnell Land could be indicated in about 87° west longitude, 

 while to the southward very high land was seen, ai)parently separated 

 from Grinnell Land, and was named Arthur Land. They found stretch- 

 ing from Archer to Greely fiord the northern edge of an immense ice 

 cap, which had an average height on the perpendicular front of loO feet. 

 A journey from Cape Sabine by Sergeant Long developed the extension 

 of Hayes Sound to the westward. As will be seen by a comparison of 

 Lieutenant Greely's maps with those previously existing, a large addition 

 has been made to our knowledge of the configuration of these northern 

 shores by the labors of Lieutenant Greely and his gallant associates, 

 and it is earnestly to be hoped that his health and strength will soon be 

 sufiBciently restored to permit him to give in detail the results of his 

 labors, and the inferences which his experience and study enable him to 

 draw from them. 



In a paper read before the British Association at Montreal, Lieut. P. 

 H. Ray gave an account of the region lying between the Yukon River 

 and the Arctic Sea, previously unvisited. In 1883, with two natives, 

 he traveled 160 miles due south from Point Barrow, as far as a low 

 range of mountains running northeast and southwest and separating 

 the northeast watershed from that of Kotzebue Sound. Farther than 

 this his guides were afraid to go. Lieutenant Ray found the whole re- 

 gion a labyrinth of small lakes, lagoons, and streams, in summer im- 

 passable to every one but an Eskimo with his kayak, as at that season 

 all that part not covered with water becomes a wet marsh, the traveler 

 sinking thiough to the frozen ground underneath at each step. The 



