191 2. No. 14. THE HYDROGRAPHIC OBSERVATIONS. 35 



that Norwegians wintered upon the island as early as between 1820 and 

 1830, and many times subsequently. The Norwegian house by the har- 

 bour called, since 1899, Russe Hamna, has been several times used to 

 winter in, for instance, in the winter of 1852 — 53. In 1852, the sloop 

 Anna Margrethe of Stenkjær lost her mast in a storm on Folia Fjord 

 on the west coast of Norway, and drifted northwards until as a wreck she 

 drifted ashore in Russe Hamna, where the crew then passed the winter, 

 without knowing where they were. The}' were rescued the following 

 summer by captain Danielssen of Hammerfest. Captain Tobiesen's wintering 

 on Bear Island in the house on Nordhamna in 1865 — 66 is of special 

 interest, as he brought home from it the first meteorological observations 

 made in these regions during the winter. 



The Norwegian houses on Russe Hamna and Nordhamna have be- 

 longed since 1899 to the Norwegian State, and are in the hands of the 

 Tromsö Fisheries Association. 



As early as 1827, Bear Island was explored by Professor Keilhau, 

 professor in geology at the Christiania University. Since then it has 

 been visited by Nordexskiöld's and Nathorst's expeditions, and by the 

 Norwegian North Atlantic Expedition in 1878. The island has also been 

 explored by the Swedish expedition under the leadership of Johan Gunnar 

 Andersson, in 1899. 



For the latest chart of Bear Island we are indebted to Nathorst's 

 expedition in 1898. On it^ as we have said, the name Sörhamna is given 

 to the deepest bay on the south-east coast. Formerly, by Sörhamna was 

 generally meant the litde harbour now called Russe Hamna. Thus To- 

 BiESEN speaks in his journal of "the house by Sörhamna". The name 

 Sörhamna, however, has also been given to the harbour called by us 

 Norske Hamna, for instance by Nordenskiöld. 



Upon the south-east side of Bear Island, for instance round Sörhamna, 

 Norske Hamna, etc., there are Silurian limestones and dolomites, as also 

 schists of varied appearances. The rocks are for the most part very much 

 split up, and generally without fossils. In some places small quantities 

 of galena occur in veins of barytes. The whole of the north and north-west 

 part of the flat land of Bear Island consists of flat or slightly tilted more 

 recent rocks, in the west of carboniferous limestones, in the east of Devo- 

 nian sandstone with coal beds. This sandstone also forms the substra- 

 tum of the highest mountain on the island, Mt. Misery. The higher parts 

 of this mountain are composed of carboniferous limestones, rich in fossils, 

 and highest of all dark slates with sandstone belonging to the Trias. 



