18 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. July 



1871 by the Swedish Expedition under Von Otter. 

 The Greenlander was of opinion that the masses he 

 detected were precisely similar to those taken away by 

 the Swedes. I decided to have the place examined, 

 and on the 9 th, Captain Feilden with Lieutenant Aldrich 

 and a boat's crew, accompanied by the Greenlander 

 who gave the information, started for Ovifak. Land- 

 ing with considerable difficulty at the spot indicated, a 

 careful search was instituted, but owing to the rough- 

 ness of the sea, or to the removal of the stones them- 

 selves by the action of the waves, the search proved 

 unsuccessful so far as these particular masses were 

 concerned. Subsequently, we procured some lumps 

 of iron from the same locality. It appears that the 

 metallic iron of Ovifak is distributed throughout a 

 particular basalt, in small grains as well as in masses, 

 whilst particles of the basalt are freely dispersed 

 throughout the lumps of iron, thus pointing to the 

 telluric origin of the mineral. 



On Sunday the 11th, the opportunity was taken of 

 holding a sacrament service in the chapel on shore, 

 when most of the officers and a number of the crews of 

 the three ships attended. 



While we were near the Greenland coast, farther to 

 the southward, the temperature of the water was never 

 above 40°, but in Disco Bay we found it considerably 

 higher, ranging to 49° in the more open parts of the 

 sea near the southern shores. With the temperature of 

 the air occasionally up to 50°, and the water at least 

 10° above the melting point of fresh- water ice, the 

 numerous icebergs were melting very rapidly. Large 

 masses constantly broke asunder and, falling into the 



