288 GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN 1869. 



for his expedition of 1870. The principal in- 

 terest of the expedition, however, was in its 

 artistic and archaeological discoveries and in- 

 vestigations. They visited several of the 

 largest of the Greenland glaciers, and took 

 sketches and photographs of them from diifer- 

 ent points, once narrowly escaping destruction 

 from the discharge of several large icebergs 

 into Baffin's Bay from the glacier they were 

 examining. They also visited and explored 

 very thoroughly the old Norse ruins at Kraka- 

 tok, or Gardar, near Julianshaab, at the 

 southern extremity of Greenland, about lati- 

 tude 61. This was once the seat of a pros- 

 perous Norwegian colony, founded A. D. 986 ; 

 and the See of Gardar, the cathedral of which 

 is yet standing and in tolerable preservation, 

 was occupied by seventeen successive Norwe- 

 gian bishops. Thorwald, the son of the 

 founder of this colony, is said to have discov- 

 ered Newfoundland in 1001. The party found 

 conclusive evidence that the temperature of 

 this region was much colder now than at the date 

 of the Norwegian settlement. Tor ten succes- 

 sive days of their voyage the explorers saw 

 the sun at midnight, and during two months 

 they never had occasion to light their lamps. 

 The mosquitoes and stinging flies, Dr. Hayes 

 says, were more numerous and tormenting in 

 south Greenland than anywhere else in the 

 world. In his expedition of 1870, Dr. Hayes 

 proposes to attempt to penetrate to the North 

 Pole by way of Wellington Channel and Grin- 

 nell-land. This route lias never been explored 

 above the 77th parallel. The question of the 

 best route to the Pole cannot be said to be 

 settled. The preponderance of opinion, so far 

 as routes from the north of this continent 

 are concerned, seems to be through Smith's 

 Sound. The highest point yet attained 

 within the Arctic Circle, Cape Union, near 

 latitude 83 N., was reached by this route. Of 

 those north of theEastern Continent, the route 

 by the east coast of Greenland, that north of 

 Spitzbergen, and that north of Nova Zembla, 

 have been attempted unsuccessfully by the Ger- 

 man, Swedish, and English expeditious, in 

 1868 and 1869; and so marked has been the 

 failure, that they will hardly be tried again. 

 There were seven distinct expeditions to the 

 Polar regions from Europe in 1869, all well 

 conducted and several of them rich in scienti- 

 fic results ; but none of them have been suc- 

 cessful thus far in attaining so high a latitude 

 as was reached in 1868. 



The Swedish expedition of 1868, under the 

 direction of Prof. Nordenskiold, had made, on 

 the 19th of September of that year, the lati- 

 tude of 81 42', and explored very thoroughly 

 the geology, botany, mineralogy, and meteorol- 

 ogy of the western portion of the Spitzbergen 

 Islands. Another expedition was sent from 

 Sweden in 1869, but its results have not yet 

 transpired. The expedition fitted out in 1868, 

 under the efforts of Dr. Augustus Petermann 

 >t Gotha, having failed to accomplish all that 



it was hoped it would, Dr. Petermann exerted 

 himself anew in the winter of 1868-'69 to send 

 out another on a larger scale. The little screw- 

 steamer Germania, which Captain Koldewey 

 had commanded in 1868, was again sent out, 

 and with her the Hansa, a sailing-vessel of 242 

 tons. The Hansa was commanded by Captain 

 Koldewey, and Captain Hegemann was com- 

 mander of the Germania. The whole number of 

 persons in both vessels was thirty-one, including 

 a corps of six scientific men. The two vessels 

 sailed from Bremerhaven, June 15, 1869, with 

 the intention, as in the previous voyage, of 

 keeping as near as possible to the east coast 

 of Greenland, and, if possible, of entering by 

 that route the region near the Pole. The 

 vessels were provisioned for two years. Up 

 to August 1, 1869, the success of the expedition 

 had not been satisfactory. The highest point 

 they had been able to make was 74 59' north 

 latitude, due east of Shannon Island, and 11 

 14' west longitude from Greenwich, or almost 

 400 miles east of the Greenland coast. The line 

 of firm ice continued to be maintained at this 

 distance from the coast, and gradually extended 

 farther eastward, so that they were forced 

 southward, till on the 1st of August, 1869, they 

 were in latitude 72 50', but had reached 16 

 west longitude. Of their subsequent progress 

 we have no knowledge. It is probable, how- 

 ever, that they succeeded later in the season 

 in entering the open water inside the ice-pack, 

 and perhaps may have reached a higher lati- 

 tude than any previous explorers on the east 

 coast of Greenland. 



M. A. Rosenthal, a wealthy merchant of Bre- 

 men, fitted out at his own expense two expedi- 

 tions, both well supplied with scientific corps 

 and all needful apparatus, and dispatched 

 them to the Polar region, north of Nova 

 Zembla. They were expected to bring home 

 such a cargo of whale oil and bone, seal oil 

 and skins, and other furs, as could be secured, 

 lightening thereby the very heavy cost of the 

 two expeditions. The first of Mr. Rosenthal's 

 expeditions was in the screw-steamer Bienen- 

 korb (Beehive), 400 tons, 120 horse-power, 

 commanded by Captain Hagens, provisioned 

 for eight to twelve months, and having fifty- 

 five men on board, the scientific corps headed 

 by Dr. J. S. Dorst, the eminent astronomer 

 and physicist of Julich. Its destination was 

 to the sea between Spitzbergen and Greenland, 

 with orders to penetrate to Gillis-land, the 

 unknown region east of Spitzbergen, if possi- 

 ble, and to go and return by way of the east- 

 ern coast of Greenland. This vessel sailed, 

 from Bremerhaven, February 21st, and returned 

 to that port on the 31st of August. The 

 captain had found in the winter and spring 

 the ice-border extending below 71, and as far 

 east as 12 east longitude from Greenwich, 

 and, following the border southwest to the 

 vicinity of Jan Mayen Island, latitude 70 10', 

 longitude about 6 west of Greenwich, began in 

 May to move northward ; from this point the ice 



