THE SWEDISH ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION « 



By Otto Nordenskiold and Others. 



I. Summary of Events. 



By tlie Editor of Titk Geographical Journal. 



We print below a summary of the scientific results of the Swedish 

 Antarctic Expedition of 1902-3, kindly communicated to us b}^ Doctor 

 Nordenskiold. It is necessary, however, to preface this by an outline 

 of the course of the expedition from the time when the Antarctic 

 steamed north, on February 21, 1902, after leaving the leader and his 

 five companions in the inhospitable neighborhood of Snow Hill, on 

 the eastern side of the northward-pointing- land mass known as Louis 

 Philippe Land. The first business which engaged the attention of the 

 explorers was the erection of houses and observatories, after which an 

 attem])t was made to explore the neighborhood by means of a boat 

 excursion. It was soon found that the season was too far advanced 

 for work of the kind, the movements of the pack placing the boat in 

 frequent danger. Enough was done to show that Seymour Island, as 

 well as that on which the winter station had been established, was 

 divided from the mainland by a channel representing the supposed 

 Admiralty Inlet; but further exploration had to be postponed until 

 the sea should once more be frozen over. The terrific gales experi- 

 enced during the winter and the work done during that trying period 

 ai'c spoken of in Doctor NordenskioUVs paper, and we may therefore 

 pass on to the first important sledge expedition, which was l)egun on 

 September 3o. the leader being accompanied by I^ieutenant Sobral 

 and the sailor fJonasen. Of the two sledges taken, one only could ttc 

 pulled by the dogs, the numbers of which had sadly diminished l)y 

 this time. Progress was therefore somewhat slow. It soon proved 

 that the outer fringe of islands was ))acked by a continuous mainland, 

 connecting Louis Pliilip])(' Land with King Oscar Land farther south. 

 The space between the islands was occupied by ice plains, terminating 

 in a precipitous ice wall, and apparentl}' resembling the surface of 



"Reprinted from The Geographical Journal, London, Vol. XXTIT, No. 2, Feb- 

 ruary, 1904. 



467 



