382 I. P. Косн. 
1) either that the bearing is encumbered with an error of about 
15 degrees, the consequence of which would be that HAGEN's coast 
line from the cairn should fall about 15 degrees more towards 
south; or 
2) that FREUCHEN's coast line is encumbered by a corresponding 
error in the opposite direction. 
When weighing these two possibilities against each other it must 
be taken into consideration that FREUCHEN’s observations must be 
supposed to be performed from highly situated mountain stations in 
the neighbourhood of Kap Schmelck, and during a stay of such 
long duration that he has been able to reject less favourable weather 
conditions. His later computations and the drawing of the map were 
performed under the most favourable conditions and with all technical 
means at his disposal. As to the conditions under which HAGEN's 
observations were made, we hardly know anything atall. That time 
was limited is, however, a foregone conclusion, and the possibility 
is an obvious one that the observations were performed with an 
overcast sky, in other words, under conditions where it would be 
difficult or. impossible to determine the azimuth with a reasonable 
degree of accuracy. As the coast stretch in question is situated west 
of HAGEN's most westerly station, he has not been able to discover 
a possibly existing systematic error of the bearings by connection 
with observations from his other stations. As regards HAGEN's com- 
putations we know that they were performed without the assistance 
of logarithms or other tables — though perhaps with the exception 
of a small azimuth table. His map sketches were made under very 
primitive conditions; the uncertain manner in which the bearings 
were laid down on Pl. У (Medd. om Grenl. XLI) speaks for itself. 
In other words there is every probability that FREUCHEN’s coast 
line is the correct one. 
As mentioned above HAGEN performed observations from two 
stations, a and b, situated at a distance of about 3km from each 
other, and in such a manner that the line ab forms almost a right 
angle to the direction at Navy Cliff. This is hardly accidental, as in 
this manner HAGEN was most favourably placed for determining his 
position in relation to Navy Cliff, where PEAry had performed ап 
astronomical observation of the position. The two stations, a and 
b, must therefore be supposed to be connected by distance and 
direction, but the consequence of this is that an error in the bearings 
from station a must appear with the same magnitude and direction, 
as far as the bearings from b are concerned. This consideration 
gives a natural explanation of the fact, why the bearing N 55° W 
falls east of Glacier I. 
