2 THE EAST COAST OF GREENLAND. 



The general form of Greenland, as at present portrayed on our 

 maps, is roughly triangular. It is probable that further discoveries 

 on the northern shores will show it to be more ellipsoidal than 

 triangular in shape. Its interior is unknown, but its shores on the 

 western and part of the eastern sides have been more or less com- 

 pletely explored. At almost no place is there a straight or unbroken 

 line of coast ; deep fjords, at short intervals, running more or less 

 parallel with each other, often for great distances into the land, and 

 in some cases divided into numerous branches or tributary fjords, 

 intersect the coast. These fjords are much more numerous on the 

 west than on the east coast— a fact which we shall see is true of every 

 other region where these peculiar intersections of a coast-line are 

 found (p. 69) ; and this fact may be received as some ground for the 

 belief that the inland ice (p. 30) which covers the whole interior 

 of the country slopes more to the western than to the eastern sides. 

 1. The East Coast.— The Spitzbergen Ice-stream— a broad river 

 of pack-ice, floes, &c— is carried by the current from the direc- 

 tion of Spitzbergen down the eastern shores of Greenland, south at 

 least of lat. 64°, and is drawn up Davis Strait by the in-draught 

 of the water until it impinges on the coast about the vicinity 

 of Holsteensborg. In this current are brought great quantities of 

 drift-wood, which has passed out of the mouths of the Siberian rivers, 

 and white bears, which afford a lucrative object of chase to the 

 ' South Greenlanders. 



The most northerly point on the coast of Greenland which has 

 ever been sighted, is the mythical land which is said to have been 

 visited by Lambert in 1670. But this record is so dubious, that we 

 may really set down the furthest northern point reached by the 

 German Expedition on the 15th of April, 1870, viz., Cape Bismarck, 

 or a little beyond, in lat. 77°, as the limit of our knowledge of the 

 eastern shores. South of that parallel the coast-line has been 

 partially laid down by Scoresby, and by the expedition mentioned, 

 until we come to lat. 69° 12', near Knighton Bay, when again the 

 chart fails us. Between the points mentioned the coast is broken by 

 fjords and bays, with numerous off-lying islands. The most exten- 

 sive of these fjords is that of the Kaiser Franz Joseph, a beautiful 

 inlet (with many tributaries), which stretches into the interior 

 for an unknown distance. 



Scarcely less beautiful are Ardencaple Inlet and the Fligely and 

 Tyrolese Fjords, though neither is equal in extent or grandeur to that 

 named in honour of the Austrian Emperor. Koldewey's, Clavering's 

 and Shannon islands form the greatest extent of detached land. 



Petermann's Peak (14,000 feet), and Payer's Peak (7600 feet), are 



