64 



NATURE 



'^Nov. 26, 1874 



floes and sank. Happily, those on board had for some 

 time before begim to fear the worst, and transferred from 

 the Hansa to a large floe a considerable proportion of the 

 movables on board, including 'three good boats. They 

 were, indeed, more fortunate than the nineteen people 

 belonging to the Polaris, who found themselves in a simi- 

 lar position, very inadequately provided for. The men of 

 the unfortunate Hansa proceeded to make themselves as 

 comfortable as possible on their drifting island of ice, 

 which at first was about seven miles in circumference. 

 Among the stores which were transferred to the ice was a 

 large quantity of coal in well-squared;blocks, with which 

 a wonderfully comfortable house was built, surrounded by 

 a sort of snow wall, the space between which and the 



house was covered over. The story of the life of the 

 Hansa's crew on their drifting floe is very well told ; and 

 although of course they were not quite so comfortable as 

 if they were sailing in a good ship on a sunny sea, still 

 their hardships appear to have been by no means great — 

 not so great, we think, as those which the officers 

 and crew of the Gennania had to undergo in carrying 

 on the work of the expedition. No one seems to have 

 been seriously affected in health by the journey, and 

 all kept in wonderfully good spirits. The floe occa- 

 sionally came to grief, and its dimensions became 

 gradually diminished ; in January it suffered such a 

 terrible break-up that a new house had to be built. 

 Neither officers nor men — fifteen in all — gave themselves 



up to idleness ; observations were being continually made, 

 and this part of the narrative will be found to contain a 

 good deal of valuable information as to [the fauna and 

 flora met with, the state of the ice, the currents, and on 

 the geographical and geological features of the land. At 

 last, on May 7, in 61" 12' N., the company quitted the floe 

 and took to the boats, after having been on the former 

 for 200 days. Even then it was not all plain sailing, as 

 they had often to stay for days on floes, dragging the boats 

 after them. At last, however, they got fairly awav, and 

 on June 13 reached the Mission Station of Friedericksthal, 

 near the south point of Greenland, in 60° N. Int., eight 

 months after their little ship went down about 700 miles 

 further north. It is needless to say the fifteen men were 

 most hospitably entertained by the good missionaries. 



Franz-Joseph's Fjo 



After staying here a short time they went by Lichtenau to 

 Julianshaab, a town further up the west coast of Green 

 land. Here they were taken on board a ship bound for 

 Copenhagen, which, after visiting Frederickshaab, still 

 further north, started for Europe about the end of July, 

 and landed them in Copenhagen on Sept. i. During 

 the stay of the Hansa's crew in the south-west of Green- 

 land, the officers made many valuable observations on 

 the people and the geology of the country. The natives 

 in these parts are very different in fJiysique from those 

 on the west coast, as well as from those who live much 

 further to the north ; they bear on their features the un- 

 mistakable marks of a large infusion of European, mainly 

 Danish, blood, and in their habits they are altogether 

 more civilised than the genuine aborigines. Dr. Laube 



