Survey of Northeast Greenland. 411 
fjord ice. Nor have I in Ejnar MikkELSEN’s book!) been able to find 
anything seeming to indicate that the drift ice in the years 1909, 
1910 and 1911 ran in as far as Hochstetters Forland. 
The hydrographical conditions of the coast sea have been treated 
by TROLLE in Medd. om Grønl. XLI. A glance at the Pl. XII ac- 
companying TROLLE's treatise shows that the conditions north of the 
parallel 78°16’ and west of the meridian 0 are completely unknown; 
among other things — which by the way is pointed out by TROLLE 
himself — the interesting problem of a possibly existing submarine 
ridge between Nordost-Rundingen and Spitzbergen is still an open 
one. The reason of our lack of knowledge as regards this part of 
the Greenland Sea is the quite natural one that it is extremely diffi- 
cult to navigate in this very place on account of the density of the 
drift ice. The possibility of advancing with a ship in this part of 
the sea during a slack ice season is, however, not altogether excluded. 
In 1905, July 30th, the Belgica reached as far as 78°16’ (16°21’ w. of 
Grw.). In the ship's journal there is the following entry in this 
place: Au N: banquise compacte. Sur la lisière de la landice: 
traces de pressions. The Belgica was thus stopped by impassable 
ice on its journey north, but А. DE GERLACHE has told me privately 
that he believed in the possibility of being able to continue further 
north. Е 
On July 24th 1908 the Danmark reached 78°04’ М. Lat. (14°10’ w. 
of Grw.). The ice did not prevent us from proceeding further in а 
northern direction; it was because our engine had become damaged 
that we were forced to turn round and try to go east, and here we 
were stopped by solid ice. 
When in June 1907 I went south by sledge along the coast from 
Nakkehoved as far as Danmarks Havn, I found landwater, free of 
ice, between Nordost-Rundingen and Mallemukfjeldet. EJNAR MIKKELSEN, 
who travelled the same distance in the summer of 1910, likewise 
met with open water in this place. 
Judging by the conditions in other parts of the Greenland Sea, 
it must be supposed that 1905 and 1908 were slack ice years, whereas 
1907 was the opposite. 
The above-mentioned four journeys, two by ship and two by 
sledge, are the only sources we possess for the estimating of the 
problem whether it is possible to go by ship along the coast of 
Greenland as far as Nordost-Rundingen. However, they seem to point 
towards the supposition that it ought to be possible. 
1) EJNAR MIKKELSEN: Tre Aar paa Grønlands Østkyst, København og Kristiania 
1913: 
