HILL WITH BANDS OF COAL. 251 



limestone as mostly all of the lower hills of 

 East Spitzbergen ; but it had a perfectly flat or 

 tabular top, and the upper stratum, as well as 

 another band about the middle of the hill, 

 were composed of black substance, which I 

 supposed to be coal. I was not within several 

 miles of the hill ; but I estimated the thickness 

 of each of these black bands at about twenty 

 feet. Their substance was evidently pretty 

 hard, as the ends of the bands stood up per 

 pendicularly, instead of participating in the 

 otherwise uniform 45 slope of the hill. At 

 the left-hand, or south-westerly side of the hill, 

 I could perceive that the lower band gradually 

 thinned away to nothing. This hill is very 

 conspicuously placed, and cannot fail to be 

 recognised by any future visitor to the upper 

 part of Stour Eiord. 



The other hill I imagine to be a truncated 

 cone of Plutonic rock, and of it I can hardly 

 hope to give a sketch that will convey any idea 

 of its singularly grand and picturesque appear 

 ance. It seemed to be about 600 feet high, 

 and two or three miles in circumference at the 

 base, and the lower two-thirds of its height 

 consisted of a steep talus of detritus covered 

 with beautifully variegated mosses, while the 



