Oct. 



1879] 



NATURE 



the Swedish Expedition, by the rich collections it has 

 brought home, has achieved more, and more widened 

 the horizon of our knowledge, than if it had returned 

 merely with the information that the Sofia had hoisted 

 her flag at the North Pole." 



Nordenskjold's last expedition to Spitzbergen was made 

 in 1872-3, when a winter was passed in the island, with 

 the intention of pushing north by the Seven Islands by 

 means of sledges. As a preleminary to this, he paid a 

 visit to Greenland in 1870, for the purpose of ascertaining 



Glacier in Fair Haven, 



the suitability of the Eskimo dog for sledging purposes. ! 

 After careful observation Nordenskjold came to the \ 

 conclusion that reindeer were much better adapted to the [ 

 work than dogs, and so it was decided to use the former 



m the contemplated expedition. While in Greenland 

 Nordenskjold made a journey of a few days into the 

 interior and brought back some interesting results. He 

 succeeded in penetrating only a distance of thirty miles. 



Astronomical Observatory at Mussel Bay. 



and that with great difficulty on account of the rough 

 nature of the inland ice and the frequent crevasses that 

 had to be passed. 



" On the surface of the inland ice no stones were met 



with at a distance of more than a cable's length from 

 the border ; but everywhere there were to be found 

 vertical cylindrical holes, a foot or two deep, from a 

 couple of lines to a couple of feet in diameter and so.close 



