284 THE GERMAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



In an ice-covered sea it is especially difficult to arrive 

 at any right conclusion with regard to the currents. 

 Those on the coast of East Greenland we most carefully 

 noticed. Putting the experience of both ships together, 

 and that of the floe on which the crew of the Hansa 

 passed the winter, the following remarks are probably 

 correct. 



Along, the outer border of the ice, and among the drift- 

 ice even as far as the fields themselves, which extend a 

 long way within the barrier, there exists between the 

 latitudes 76° and 72° a south-westerly current, the average 

 speed of which is from eight to ten nautical miles in 

 twenty-four hours. The direction taken by this current 

 greatly depends upon the prevailing winds, and therefore 

 often turns the foremost portion of the drift consider- 

 ably to the east or west. 



Immediately under the coast, according to our observa- 

 tions, a southerly motion of both ice and water is not to 

 be denied, but it is far weaker than that on the outer 

 border; and in summer, when south winds prevail, it 

 stops altogether, so that at times the ice fields are 

 stationary, or only move up and down. In winter the 

 drifting is much more considerable, owing to the pre- 

 vailing north winds and storms. Regular ebb and tidal 

 currents the Germania did not meet with in the latitudes 

 through which she passed, but only a rising and falling of 

 the water. In the autumn it seems certain that there is 

 always a setting of the heavy pack-ice to the coast, and 

 what is termed land-water disappears more and more ; 

 indeed, the question as regards the continuation of this 

 land-water along the coast the whole of the summer 

 cannot be entertained for a moment; its appearance 



