1875 GREENLAND EOIIN. 207 



unusual sight during the winter in these regions. 

 During the spring-tide last night the water forced its 

 way through the crack in the ice near the ship, and 

 overran the floe on the starboard quarter to the depth 

 of at least a foot. Yesterday the ice newly frozen this 

 season was forty and a half inches thick ; the upper 

 surface was two inches above the water-level, with five 

 inches of hard snow lying on top of it. 



4 The weather has now apparently settled. Any force 

 that can put in motion so vast a body of air as must be 

 necessary to affect our temperature fifty degrees, raising 

 it from minus 20° to 35°, and keeping it above the ave- 

 rage for eighteen days since November 25, must have 

 been very considerable, and I cannot but expect that 

 very severe weather has occurred even in the Atlantic' 



After our return to England I learned, through the 

 investigations of Captain N. Hoffmeyer, Director of the 

 Meteorological Institution, Copenhagen, that each of 

 the observing stations on the west coast of Greenland 

 between Ivigtut and Upernivick had experienced warm 

 south-easterly winds between November 19 and De- 

 cember 12, agreeing precisely with the warm tempera- 

 ture we experienced during the same period, and 

 proving that the disturbing cause travelled over the 

 intervening district, embracing an area of at least 1,300 

 miles. 



' 14th. —From the look-out hill we can observe a 

 small crack in the ice about a mile to seaward, from 

 Avhich frost smoke is rising every here and there. 



8 Since the winter set in there has been no collection 

 of " barber " on the yards or rigging. The little that 

 may collect on the thermometers or ship's side never 



