20 NORDENSKJ OLD'S AND BERGGREN'S JOURNEY IN 1870. 



we must have passed in its immediate vicinity. After these pre- 

 parations for a parting, Dr. Berggren and I proceeded alone further 

 inward. The Greelanders turned back. At first we passed one of 

 the above-mentioned extensive bowl-formed excavations in the ice- 

 plain, which is here furrowed by innumerable rivers, which often 

 obliged us to make long circuits; and when to avoid this we 

 endeavoured to make our way along the margin of the valleys, we 

 came instead upon a tract where the ice-plain was cloven by long, 

 deep, parallel clefts, running true n.n.e. to s.s.w., quite as difficult 

 to get over as the rivers, but far more dangerous. Our progress 

 was accordingly but slow. At twelve o'clock on the 22nd we halted 

 in glorious, warm sunny weather to make a geographical determi- 

 nation ; we were now at a height of 2000 feet, in lat. 68° 22' and in 

 a long, of 56' of arc east of the position of our tent at the fjord. 

 During the whole of our excursion on the ice we had seen no other 

 animals than a couple of ravens, which on the morning of the 22nd, 

 at the moment of our separation, flew over our heads. At first, 

 however, there appeared in many places on the ice remnants of 

 ptarmigans, which seemed to indicate that these birds visit these 

 desert tracts in by no means inconsiderable flocks. Everything 

 else around was lifeless. Nevertheless, silence by no means 

 reigned here ; on bending down the ear to the ice, one could hear 

 on every side a peculiar subterranean hum, proceeding from rivers 

 flowing within the ice, and occasionally a loud single report like 

 that of a cannon gave notice of the formation of a new glacier cleft. 

 " After taking the observations, we proceeded over comparatively 

 better ground. Later in the afternoon we saw, at some distance 

 from us, a well-defined pillar of mist, which, when we approached 

 it, appeared to rise from a bottomless abyss, into which a mighty 

 glacier-river fell. The vast roaring water-mass had bored for 

 itself a vertical hole, probably all the way down to the rock, 

 situated certainly more than 2000 feet beneath, on which the 

 glacier rested. The following day (the 23rd) we rested in lat. 

 68° 22', and 76' of arc longitude east from the position of our 

 starting-point at Auleitsivik. The provisions we had taken with 

 us were, however, now so far exhausted, that we were obliged 

 to think of returning. We determined, nevertheless, first to 

 endeavour to reach an ice-hill, visible on the plain to the east, 

 f i ora which we hoped to obtain an extensive view : and, in order 

 to arrive there as quickly as possible, we left the scanty remains of 

 our provisions and our sleeping-sack at the spot where we had 

 passed the night, taking careful notice of the ice-rocks around, 

 and thus proceeded by forced march, without incumbrance. 



