452 THE YERMAK TOE BREAKER. 



s;nv it only )).v tho refraction of the air. but we «aw it distinctly from 

 6 o'clorlv in the evenino- to 11 o'clock the next inorniny, and took the 

 bearings of it. It could not be Franz flosef Land, the nearest part of 

 which was at that time at a distance of 260 miles from us. Neither 

 was it Gillies Land, which was at the distance of 160 miles. We 

 believe we saw undiscovered land, and if we estimate the distance to 

 be 100 miles, that land should be no less than 60 miles long. 



On August 16 we directed our course to the south, and we saw four 

 complete table-shaped icebergs from 40 to 60 feet high, and many 

 debris of icebergs; one of them was completely covered with moraines. 

 We picked up some stones from it. A little ])iec«> of metal was found 

 between the stones, and there are signs of metal in the other stones. 

 It has not yet been examined by any geologist, so that I can not say 

 much about their nature. Neither can I state from what land they 

 come. Maybe they come from the land which we supposed we had 

 seen. 



During the whole voyage we had an opportunity of studying the 

 nature of the polar ice, the Yei'mak, with her powerful cranes and 

 winches, offering a very efficient means for this. Our usual way was 

 to cut a piece of ice, or to tind one of a suitable size, and to lift it on 

 deck. The pieces which were found in the watei* were lia))lc to melt, 

 although the water had a temperature of 29.3° F. This melting 

 affected the superticial part of the block of ice, and the interior of it 

 was as strong as might be. A block of ice being brought on deck, 

 holes were drilled into it at different depths, and the thermometer 

 introduced. Generally the temperature of the ice at that late season, 

 at the surface, is not far from freezing point, and in the lower strata 

 it corresponds to the tem}>erature of sea water. 



On one occasion we had a good chance of taking the temperature of 

 an ice floe 14 feet thick; a piece of it, broken by the Yerninl, was found 

 floating on its side. We found that the temperature inside of it was 

 28.5° F., i. e. 0.5° below freezing point of sea water. I am not sure 

 whether it shows that such thick }>locks do not lose entirely during 

 the summer their excess of cold received in winter. 



After the temperature of the block of ice was taken we used to cut 

 at different depths ol)long pieces of a certain size, and by submerging 

 them in water, study the specific gravity of the ice. Experiments 

 were made with 26 samples, and they have shown that the floating 

 part of the ice is within the limits of 6.5 per cent to 16.4 per cent, 

 while the average is 12 per cent. 



After experiments on the floating of the ice, oblong pieces were sub- 

 jected to the trial of breaking. The strongest ice was found to be 

 glacier ice, which required 180 pounds to break the oblongs. The 

 weakest ice proved to be that from the floe, 14 feet thick, and required 

 63 pounds to break it; the average of the other ice shows that 110 



