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PREFACE. 



The President and Council of the Eoyal Geographical Society 



suggested that a selection of papers on various branches of 



science relating to the Arctic Regions, which are rendered 



n inaccessible through being bound up in 'Transactions' and 



I ' Proceedings ' with other irrelevant matter, should be reprinted 



for the use of the Arctic Expedition. This suggestion, so far 



as regards subjects other than geography and ethnology, was 



adopted by the Admiralty on the recommendation of the 



v Council of the Royal Society, and a collection of papers and 



I extracts from books on zoology, geology and physics, will 



be reprinted at the public expense for the use of the 



expedition. 



The present volume contains a series of papers on Arctic 



geographical and ethnological subjects, which it was thought 



] might be useful to the officers of the expedition; and which 



f has been prepared by a Committee appointed by the Council, 



and at the expense of the Royal Geographical Society. 



Y* It is a contribution presented to the Arctic Expedition by 



E the Society, in the hope that some use and instruction may 



be derived from it, and with the warmest and most heartfelt 



wishes for the success and safe return of the explorers, on the 



part of the Council and Fellows. 



The Volume is divided into two sections — on Geography and 

 Ethnology. 



The first series of papers in the Geographical Section is by 

 Dr. Robert Brown, P.E.G.S., who has twice visited Greenland, 

 and who is one of the highest living authorities on all scientific 

 subjects connected with that region. Dr. Brown, after briefly 



