1 68 



FRIDTJOF NANSEN. 



M.-X. Kl. 



iiorlluTiiniosI i>art of ()s\\aWl I 'rdiiioiilory (C JswaM's \-(>r])cr^, l'ij^'. 124) 

 and the western corner of Mouiil Misery, where its altitu'le may amount 

 to about 100 metres". 



Judging from m\' (jl)serA'ations mafic from the sea, I unrlerstand that 

 it is only in the southern central part of the plain that its surface attains 

 altitudes as high as this estimate. On the .south-eastern side of the island, 

 south and south-west of Mount Misery, inside Russian Harbour and Nor- 

 wegian Harbour ("Russe-havn" and "N(;rske-havn" Fig. 124, see also 

 Fig. 125, D) there is a low kuul rising gently inland with somewhat 

 similar heights (cf. Fig. 123). 



During the Isachsen Expedition to .Spitsbergen in 19 10, Adolf Hoel 

 visited the northern plain on June 24th and kindly gives me the following 

 extract of his diary: 



"24/6, 19 10. Together with Koller, Håvimb, and Malme I went out 

 to take the levels of the plane of abrasion north of Mount Alisery. A pro- 

 file southwards from the north point of Bear Island looks like this: 



P/ane./Mu.SÙ.n '^^^^f f^' 



(UoüU/SOrrv. 

 atovc sea 



Fig. 126. 



The plane of abrasion extends (from the coast) to a point a good 

 distance north of Mount Misery. South of that point a low, but more 

 broken land begins, which is not a plane of abrasion at all." 



Hoel adds that unfortunately the time was too short for carrying out 

 the intended measurements by levelling, the heights given in the above 

 profile Fig. 126 are, therefore, based on aneroid readings, and are not 

 accurate. The altitudes 50 metres and especially 150 metres may be 

 too high. 



Holtedahl also informs me that in its central southern parts the plain 

 is somewhat less even than further north, and that it rises gently in low- 

 ridges towards the higher mountain slopes to the south (cf. Fig. 129). 



The general level of the very flat northern part of the plain, and of 

 its marginal parts east and west, is betw-een 30 and 50 metres above the 

 sea. On the north side of Mount Misery there is at this level a sharply 

 defined boundary between the level plain and the steeply ascending 

 mountain side (see Fig. 127). I estimate the height above the sea of this 

 demarkation line at the foot of the mountain slope, to be about 30 or 

 35 metres on the east coast near Cape Levin, and it rises gently with the 

 plain inland. 



