374 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1909. 
It is of an entirely different nature from the polar ice which is met 
with in the offing of east Greenland. This is formed of lamin 
much thicker, more compressed, and contorted, and originates near 
the Pole. While the bay ice, relatively stagnant, forms and disap- 
pears in the Greenlandic Ocean, the polar ice is carried along by a 
constant current. It results that the region of the bay ice is rela- 
tively navigable, while that of the polar ice constitutes a dangerous 
barrier. During the greater part of the voyage the Belgica pene- 
trated as far as 
possible into the 
pack ice  (ban- 
quise) so that it 
had polar ice on 
the starboard and 
bay ice on the lar- 
board side. The 
Belgica twice 
crossed the polar 
ice, and each time 
with the greatest 
difficulty. Thanks 
to a combination 
of happy circum- 
Giron land 
@JAN MAYEN 
71\0 
N oRWAY 
> stances, 1t was en- 
fe of [ez . ’ 
es oe abled to reach the 
coast of Green- 
land. 
On the other side 
| Bo of the zone of 
ees ee, polar ice the Bel- 
- ates gica found the 
we Continuous Pack - fez. land ice formed in 
wm larrd- Ice winter in the fiords 
was large ice fields : 
& Solid Ppack-1Ee ‘and the neighbor- 
: ies er As aes 1 Mots ; hood of the Green- 
Fic. 2.—Map Sa ata Seco of ice in Greenland @iand coast. Even 
in July this ice 
only partially disappears. It remains in the neighborhood of the 
locality where it is formed, and the only movements manifested are 
due, according to the observations of Commander de Gerlache, to 
the action of the tides. Between the land ice and the polar ice there 
exists a zone less encumbered, through the favor of which the expedi- 
tion was able to ascend as far as the Belgica bank. 
These three kinds of ice are very different in origin, distribution, 
and movement. Thanks to the numerous observations of the Belgica 
