General observations as to natural conditions. 369 



Cliff, where Peary and Astrup built a cairn in 1892 before starting 

 on their return journey. We found the brass case containing the mes- 

 sage they had left, as also a whisky bottle containing a report and some 

 articles from the New York Sun. 



We did not, however, find the illustrated magazines which should, 

 according to Peary's report, have been deposited in the cache, nor was 

 there any trace of Peary's stay. A good view was obtainable from the 

 spot out over the fjord, where the ice still lay unbroken; an explorer 

 looking out from there, and not considering it necessary or advisable 

 to proceed farther, might well imagine that the fjord extended farther 

 to the west. 



Navy Cliff consists of diabase (sample taken) and falls away sharply 

 to the north and west. The cliff itself does not face immediately on to 

 the fjord or the glacier, being separated from the latter by a fairly broad 

 valley, on the farther side of which again rises a narrow wall of rock 

 which hides the portion of Academy Glacier below. The upper and 

 lower parts of the glacier, however, are distinctly visible. 



AsTRUP's description with accompanying sketch of the steep glacier 

 at the foot of the cliff would thus rather apply to the rock immediately 

 adjacent to the glacier. 



The ground at Navy Cliff furnished an excellent illustration of the 

 manner in which everything is preserved in the Arctic, doubtless on 

 account of the slight rainfall; the snow, moreover, never lying where it 

 falls, but being constantly borne forward by the wind. The cairn here 

 was not particularly high, 1 metre or a little over. The summit of Navy 

 Cliff is covered with gravel and small stones, with some few larger boulders 

 here and there. The tracks made by Peary and Astrup were still clearly 

 visible in the gravel about the cairn they had built ; it was strange indeed 

 to walk here literally in Peary's footsteps. Despite the 20 years which 

 had elapsed, we both agreed that the uninitiated might reasonably have 

 supposed the tracks to have been 8 to 14 days old. 



Our visit to Navy Cliff was made during a violent gale, which ren- 

 dered it impossible to set up the theodolite at all, in addition to which 

 the sun was hidden all the time, so that we could make no measure- 

 ments. 



An account of our journey was deposited in the cairn, enclosed in 

 a tin case, together with one copy of Peary's report, which was written 

 in duplicate. 



During the whole of our stay in Game Land we were much incon- 

 venienced by bad weather. From the 1st August to the evening of the 

 6th it rained and blew almost incessantly. The autumn then appeared 

 to be rapidly approaching, the snow buntings were assembling for flight, 

 the rivers had almost ceased to flow, and new ice appeared on the lakes. 

 Summer in these regions is but of short duration, but is the more intensely 

 felt while it lasts. 



