420 I. P. Косн. 
have the conditions for heating the surface. But the warm surface 
water subsides and has a dissolving effect on the fjord ice, and so 
the channels gradually melt through the upper layers of the ice and 
excavate beds for themselves. 
Out on the fjord several large cracks have opened up. They 
often form from one season to another in the same places; in narrow 
passes from point to point, or between islets and skerries. Round 
the icebergs and islets small open cracks have formed, and every- 
where there are breathing holes for seals and walruses. 
The system of channels on the top of the fjord ice thus becomes 
connected with the waters of the fjord. The waters of the channels 
can to a certain extent be drained off, and thus the effect of the 
channels becomes similar to that of draining ditches. Consequently 
one may here and there on the fjord ice, in the course of the summer, 
meet with fairly tolerable travelling conditions. (Thus in August 1906 
I made a short sledge trip on the outer part of Skærfjorden, at a 
season when the creeks and bays of the interior of the fjord were 
quite open, and in July 1907 I drove from Danmarks Havn, 15 km 
in a southern direction, across the fjord to Lille Koldewey). But in 
other places the channels may, at the same time, place very serious 
obstacles in the way of the traveller, even though after some searching 
one generally finds a place, where one can jump across. Besides 
the snow is very coarse-grained and the snow-crystals sharply 
angular, so that the dogs’ paws are cut and bleed. The fjord ice 
does not lend itself to longer journeys during the summer season, 
among other things because it will nearly always be difficult to get 
to the shore, and because one cannot avoid encountering large im- 
passable cracks. 
The above description of the channels along the surface of the 
ice corresponds with the conditions, such as we have been able to 
observe them in Dove Bugt in the years 1907 and 1908. In the 
summer of 1912 I once more met with similar conditions in this 
place, and in July 1900 I remember having seen well developed 
channels on the ice north of Sabine Ø. On Skærfjorden in August 
1906 one would hardly be justified in speaking of a system of 
channels, but rather of frequently occurring elongated lakes. The 
water in them was in many cases salt, so that there was a connection 
between them and the water of the fjord, which was also often 
directly visible. Here the channels were not fully developed, while 
the fact that the water of the lakes was salt might seem to indicate 
that they had arisen through melting taking place round breathing 
holes. | 
Of the conditions in the fjords further north we know very little, 
