vi PREFACE. 



describing the Greenland coast-line, gives an account of all the 

 different attempts that have been made to penetrate into the 

 interior. He then treats of the Greenland glacier system, of 

 the action of sea-ice, of the rise and fall of the coast, and of the 

 formation of fjords, and concludes with some speculations on 

 the northern termination of Greenland, and on debateable points 

 regarding the physical structure of the vast icy continent. 



Dr. Brown's series is followed by three papers reprinted from 

 the 'Journal' of the Eoyal Geographical Society. The first, by 

 Baron von Wrangell, is interesting, as being the first proposal 

 to attempt to reach the Pole by the route of Smith Sound. 

 The second is a valuable criticism on the narrative of Dr. Kane's 

 discoveries, by Dr. Kink, the eminent Danish Naturalist, and 

 Director of the Greenland Board of Trade ; and the third is a 

 paper on the Arctic Current around Greenland, by the Danish 

 Admiral Irminger. 



The concluding series of Papers, in the Geographical Section, 

 is by Admiral Collinson. The full results of that distinguished 

 officer's remarkable Arctic voyage have never been given to the 

 public ; and both the Fellows of the Society and the officers of 

 the Arctic Expedition are to be congratulated in having, on 

 this occasion, elicited so valuable an instalment. Admiral 

 Collinson gives his notes on the state of the ice, and on 

 indications of open water, from the mouth of the Siberian river 

 Kolyma, along the shores of Arctic America, to Bellot Strait, 

 He also furnishes a narrative of all the expeditions that have 

 explored the shores of Arctic America from Point Barrow to 

 the Mackenzie Eiver, and from the Mackenzie to the Back 

 River, including his own voyage, and concludes with some 

 general observations on the ice. 



The Ethnological Section commences with two papers on the 

 origin and migrations of the Greenland Eskimo, and on the 

 Arctic Highlanders. Then follows a sketch of the Eskimo 

 grammar, and a series of classified vocabularies taken from the 

 lists of Egede, Kleinschmidt, Janssen, and Admiral Washington. 



