6o8 



NATURE 



\Oct. 23, 1879 



ferous formation, and found these strata overlain by other 

 nearly horizontal beds belonging to the same tertiary 

 formations with impressions of leaves as he had observed 

 at Middle Hook." 



The expedition of 1861 consisted of two tiny vessels. 

 They managed to sail right round the west and north coast 

 to the entrance of Hinlopen Strait, which divides the main 

 island from North-east Land, anchoring in Treurenberg 

 Bay, the starting-point of Parry's famous sledge expe- 

 dition of 1827. 



"The Swedes paid a visit to Hecia Cove, Parry's har- 

 bour, protected from the north by Cape Crozier with its 

 hill of quartzite. It was on this point that Parry and 

 his lieutenant, Crozier, carried on their magnetic and 

 astronomical observations, and on this height they erected 

 a flagstaff with a copper plate bearing an inscription to 

 preserve the memory of their visit. Here was found a 



flagstaff, which, however, was only the highest portion 

 of Parry's flagstaff, and the copper plate was cutaway 

 so that only a few small pieces remained under the heads 

 of the nails with which it had been fastened. HecIa 

 Mount, about 1,720 feet high, was ascended, and from 

 its top an extensive view was obtained of North-east 

 Land, which along the coast is very flat with rounded 

 hills of inconsiderable height, and in the interior is 

 covered with a continuous snow-plain of about the same 

 or somewhat greater height above the sea than the top 

 of Hecla Mount, and to the south of Niew Vriesland, the 

 interior of which is also occupied by a similar unbroken 

 snow-plateau. In the neighbourhood large masses of 

 hyperite were found ; and to the iron which the eruptive- 

 rock contains the Swedes attributed certain irregulari- 

 ties which appeared in the magnetic observations. In- 

 teresting as was the discovery of this rock on the other 



C.ipe Cliclyuskin, the Northern.iiohit Point of the Old World. 



side of the bay to the geologists, it was not so to the phy- 

 sicists, who found that all their magnetic observations 

 were affected by its presence." 



During the weeks that elapsed from the imprisonment 

 of the vessels in Treurenberg Bay till their release, the 

 zoologists carried on dredgings, the other members of the 

 expedition were employed in copying charts, with a view 

 to future excursions, and in calculating observations ; on 

 board the A£ohis meteorological observations were taken 

 hourly ; measurements were also made of the tides. 



"At length the ice broke up, and on July 2 the ships 

 got out to sea accompanied by the Jaen Maycn, a fishing 

 vessel that had been imprisoned along with them. 



" June is the spring month of Spitzbergen. The sun 

 rose higher and higher above the horizon, and his rays 

 were by no means powerless. The snow first became 

 soft and water-drenched, and disappeared in spots from 

 the ground. On June 11 CochleariafcnestratajS^nAxht 

 polar willows began to open their buds; on June 22 the 



first expanded flowers of Saxifraga oppositifoHa were- 

 gathered, a sign that the midsummer sun had at 

 length won a victory over the northern winter, and on 

 the 26th there were in flower Draba alpina, CocJilearia,. 

 Cardamitie bellidifolia, and Saxifraga cerjiua, and here 

 and there Oxyria, and the willow, and in the beginning of 

 July Cerastiicm alpimim. Small Poduri hopped about in 

 a lively way among the snow. By June 7 there were seen 

 on Hecla Mount, more than 1,500 feet above the sea, a 

 number of gnats, and on the 21st there were captured 

 near bolus's cross Diptera, which, however, were unable 

 to raise their wings to a higher flight than a foot or two 

 from the ground. Small spiders and a kind of worm, 

 like our dew-worm, living in the already thawed ground, 

 were found here and there." 



After the ice broke up Torell and Nordenskjold under- 

 took a boat journey down Hinlopen Strait, during which 

 a variety of important data were obtained and collections 

 made. At several places they found immense glaciers, 



