6 H. G. SIMMONS. [SEC. ARCT. EXP. FRAM 



Then came in 1871 CHARLES FRANCIS HALL in the "Polaris'', who, 

 finding the ice conditions unusually good, sailed up to the northern ex- 

 tremity of the Robson Channel, where the Greenland coast begins to 

 trend more eastward. A long stretch of coast was made known by 

 this expedition, which was soon followed by the english government 

 expedition under the command of G. S. NARES, who, in 1875, went along 

 the route of the Polaris up to the northern part of Robson Channel. 

 Indeed, most of the explorations carried out by this expedition fell on 

 the west side of the channels; but it has also contributed to our know- 

 ledge of the Greenland coast along them as well as to the north, where 

 BEAUMONT reached lat. 82 25'. 



After the lapse of a few years, the northern parts of Greenland 

 were again visited by an exploring party of an expedition, which had 

 its principal field of work in Grinnelland. Lieutenant LOCKWOOD, of the 

 GREELY-expedition, then made a sledge journey along the Greenland 

 coast, from which he was able to state that it extended to lat. 83 35', 

 a little south of which LOCKWOOD turned in May 1882. 



Some other expeditions have contributed to the knowledge of these 

 parts of Greenland, or have at least visited them on the way to other 

 fields of work. I may mention among them the english Franklin Search 

 expedition under PENNY in 1850; the Swedish expedition in the Sofia in 

 1883; the ill-fated expedition of BJORLING in 1893 which, after visiting 

 the Carey Islands and the Greenland coast, proceeded up to Southern 

 Ellesmereland never to be seen again; the Fram expedition in which I 

 myself took part, which visited Foulke Fjord in 1898 and 1899; and the 

 Danish literary expedition under the late Mr. MYLIUS ERICHSEN, who has 

 since succumbed to the hardships of another expedition. 



A wide field of work in the northern parts of Greenlands is that 

 which has been covered by R. E. PEARY in his different voyages be- 

 tween 1891 and 1906. He has also had an opportunity of stating that 

 Greenland does not extend as far as, or beyond, the Pole, as has for- 

 merly been believed, but that it ends at lat. 83 39'. It is only to be 

 regretted that so indefatigable an explorer should not have shown more 

 interest in the different fields of scientific investigation, that could have 

 yielded so rich a harvest and that would have given a far greater value 

 to his voyages. Some important work is, however, done both by mem- 

 bers of his own expeditions and of the auxiliary parties which have been 

 sent up year after year. 



Before I pass on to the special botanic information due to the 

 different expeditions, I will try to give a summary account of the phys- 



