_the Hague. 
8 NATURE 
was to follow with a store of provisions, to be deposited 
near the Ice Cape, on the north of Nova Zembla, in case 
the expedition should be compelled to turn back. 
Of the outfit and plan of the Swedish expedition we 
gave an account in NATURE for August 29. It left Troms6 
on the 31st of July, and when last heard of was off the 
north-west point of Spitzbergen. 
We are also favoured with a letter from Dr. Petermann, 
dated Gotha, October 11, from which we learn that the 
land on the east of Spitzbergen, which for the last 355 
years has had a varying position on the map, has this 
year for the first time been reached by Captain Altmann 
of Hammerfest, and again on August 16 last by Captain 
Nils Johnsen of Tromsd, in his little sailing yacht the 
Lydeana, who landed and explored it. Captain Johnsen 
saw the island first when in N. lat. 78° 18’ 46,'and E, long. 
30°; in the maps of 1617 it was marked as Wiche Land, 
between 784° and 753° N. lat. On the 17th of August he 
anchored near to the north point in 79° 8’ N. lat. and 
30° 15’ E. long., for the purpose of landing and exploring 
the place. What Captain Altmann, looking from a 
distance, took to be three islands, Johnsen found in reality 
one, the high hills being connected by low lying land, with 
several outlying islets. On no part of the land has he 
found extensive snow-fields, and saw only one small 
glacier on the south-east coast, while, on the contrary, 
there are many large streams entirely free from ice. The 
greatest length of the land Captain Johnsen has found to 
be 44 geographical mfles. Large quantities of driftwood 
extended here and there to about 100 feet from the coast, 
and rose to the height of at least 20 feet. The island 
abounds in the usual Polar fauna, the plentifulness of 
seals, especially Phoca Groenlandica, being noted by 
Johnsen. The reindeer on the island are spoken of as 
the largest and fattest which anyone on board the 
Lydeana had ever seen. The rocks seem to be princi- 
pally of the quartz and argillaceous kind, and some fossils 
have been sent to Sweden and to Zurich. ‘Captain 
Johnsen explored the east, south-east, and north-east 
coasts, and so far as his observations went, ice is 
to be found only on the north coast. 
The fact of greatest significance in this latest news 
from these quarters is that for many months in the year 
the sea around Spitzbergen is almost entirely free from 
ice ; a position long and sagaciously maintained by Dr. 
Petermann. ; 
“ Of interest,” says the Academy,} in connection with 
‘this subject is an account of the finding of the relics of 
Barents’ expedition of 1597 to Novaia Zemlia, by Captain 
Carlsen in 1871, prepared by M. de Jonge, and newly 
published under the auspices of the Dutch government at 
The pamphlet contains the journal kept by 
Carlsen, and a minute description of the relics, accom- 
panied by a photograph of these in a group, and charts 
comparing the Novaia Zemlia of Barents with the island 
as mapped from our present knowledge of it,” 
RESEARCHES IN GREENLAND* 
Wake I wrote to you last from Copenhagen, I antici- 
pated that my season would be very short ; and 
my anticipations were correct. The season, however, in 
Greenland has been long and brilliant. In the middle of 
May floe ice disappeared in Umenak Fiord, which was 
fully six weeks earlier than usual; and in April, in God- 
havn men went about in summer attire. When I arrived 
(on July 6) the land was covered with flowers, the butter- 
flies were beginning to appear, and almost all snow had 
vanished from the sea-level up to 2,o00ft. Since then, 
with the exception of a bad week in the Waigat, I have 
enjoyed the most exquisite weather that it is possible to 
imagine. In this arctic region it has only frozen on two 
nights, and during the daytime the thermometer has 
* Copy of a letter addressed to Mr. R. H. Scott, F.R.S., and kindly 
forwarded by him to us,—Ep. 
rangedffrom 50° to 70°. Until recently we have also had 
a high barometer ; and, upon the whole, very little wind. — 
I have been upon Hare Island for three'days, and have 
also been to Umenak, but the chief part of my time has 
been spent in the Waigat, where you would be surprised, 
perhaps, to find that a great deal remains to be done. I 
have found a great valley leading into the interior of 
Disco, and have gone up it a hard day’s march. 
ascended one of the highest of the peaks on the Nour- 
soak side of the Waigat, and looked down upon the great 
valley which occupies almost the whole of its interior. 
The lakes, as given upon Rink’s map from reports of 
Eskimo, do not exist, but there is one very large lake 
which has a glacier or glaciers coming into it at perhaps 
2,000 ft. above the sea. This valley is the most important 
one hitherto discovered in North |Greenland, The river 
flowing down it has the character of a river, and not of a 
torrent ; and, after descending through many windings a — 
course of at least 100 miles, it pours into the sea a volume 
of water equal to that of the Rhone at the Lake of Geneva. 
At half a mile from the shore I found the water fresh. 
In Umenak Fiord I ascended a mountain of about 
7,000 ft. with five Greenlanders, and took my theodolite 
to the top. As you know the weight of the instrument, 
you will be partly able to appreciate this performance. 
The ascent, first over swamp, then over basalt dé477s which 
reposed insecurely upon solid basalt, and finally, at the 
top, up columnar basalt, was a sweet thing of its kind, 
The picture of your humble servant being lowered by a 
rope, dangling like a bundle from a crane, will, perhaps, 
to some people, be more interesting than the results ob- 
tained by the theodolite. These, however, were not unim- 
portant. 
almost the whole of the Umenak district (which contains 
the highest mountains of Greenland proper), and a mag- 
nificent ‘view of the “inland-ice.” I found the general 
elevation of the mountains exceeded by about 2,000 ft, the © 
height previously assigned to them. Of the altitude of 
the “inland ice” I shall write on a subsequent occasion, 
A large part of my time in the Waigat was occupied by © 
the measurement of a base line. This was the most im- 
portant piece of work that I undertook, and it was suc- 
cessfully executed. 
find its mountains to be about double the altitude that 
they have been supposed to be; and Hare Island I find 
to be twice the length represented upon the Admiralty — 
Chart ; Hare Island has some points of particular interest. 
I got from it a rather large collection of fossil plants, and 
went to its top (1,800ft.). From the summit, at midnight, 
I distinctly recognised the mountain called Sanderson’s 
Hope, near Upernavik, which was distant from me 140 
miles ! 
I have made an excellent journey, full of interest. My — 
collections are at least as valuable as those of 1867 
though, as far as I know, they do not contain anything of 
the importance of the Magnolia. I have, however, even — 
larger collections of fossil plants than before, and from — 
localities which I did not visit in 1867. My stone imple- 
ments are very numerous, and of good quality, and the 
natural history specimens are not few in number, 
gether I am very well content. 
EDWARD WHYMPER 
Written on board the brig ¥Hvalfisken as it proceeded 
out of the harbour of Godhavn, Sept. 10, 1872. 
THE HELVETIC SOCIETY OF NATURAL 
SCIENCES 
Pps 55th Session of this Society was held at the 
ancient city of Fribourg on the 19th, 20th, and 21st 
of August last, and of it we have again to tell of 
an overwhelmingly hospitable reception by “our hosts — 
of Fribourg;” a well-attended opening address by the 
President, Dr. Thurler; sectional séances, at which 
T have > 
My peak, an isolated one, commanded a view of — 
I find the Waigat to have in some © 
places scarcely half the width which our maps give it. I _ 
Alto- 
