TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 177 



made as to the temperature and pressure of the atmosphere, the direction and 

 velocity of tlie Aviiid, the amount of cloud, and the heiglit of the tide from hour to 

 hour. In making these and other observations the scientific members of the 

 expedition were zealously assisted by the two mates, Messrs. Sengstacke and 

 Traninitz, and the talented seaman Peter Ellinger, whose subsequent death at tho 

 early age of 24 has robbed nautical science of one of its most promising supporters. 

 January 1870 was the coldest month, with a mean of 11°'9 Fahr. below zero ; 

 and towards the end of February the thermometer reached its lowest, —40° -5 ; but 

 samples of pure mercury did not show any sign of freezing. The mean of the 

 whole year was remarkably low, being cvly + 11^'3 Fahrenheit. Magnetical and 

 astronomical observations were made from time to time. The magnetical con- 

 stants of their winter quarters in lat. 74° 32' 16" N., and 18° 49' W. long, were : — 

 declination, 45' 8' 8"; inclination, 79° 48'; and horizontal force 0'956 Gauss's 

 scale *. The northern lights were not in general particularly brilliant, but were 

 extremely frequent, and the convergence of the streamers was found to coincide 

 with the direction of the freely suspended magnetic needle. The spectroscopic 

 examination of the auroral light fixed the place of the green line at 1245 of Erch- 

 hofl's scale. The main direction which the labours of the expedition took during 

 the spring was the prosecution of a sledge journey to the north under the leader- 

 ship of the Captain, who was accompanied by Payer and six seamen. An advance 

 was made of 150 miles in a straight line from his winter quarters, and added at 

 least one whole degree to our maps of the coast of East Greenland. A week after- 

 wards Payer conducted another party towards the fiords to the north-west of the 

 Pendulum Islands, and they succeeded in bringing back a magnificent collection of 

 fossils and minerals. At the same time Dr. Biirgen and himself were engaged in 

 the measurement of an arc of the meridian, commenced in the beginning of March, 

 by measuring a base of rather more than 709 metres in length on Sabine Island. On 

 the 14th of May, Ur. Copeland and his companions started on their geodetical tour 

 towards the north, intending to select and signalize their stations as they advanced 

 northwards. All the angles at sixteen out of seventeen selected stations were 

 measured, and the latitude of tho north end, as deduced from eighty-two circum- 

 meridian altitudes of the sun, was 75° 11' 30"-12, with a probable eiTor of 0"-78 ; 

 that of the south end, 74° 32' 15"-86, probable error O'o8. The highest station 

 was 10084 metres above the level of the sea. They took advantage of the oppor- 

 tunity thus afforded for comparing altitudes determined with the barometers with 

 those deduced from purely trigonometrical operations. The whole of the barome- 

 trical heights were slightly in excess of the trigonometrical ones. Their geodetical 

 labours were very much restricted and eniban-assed by the setting in of the thaw 

 as earh" as the 3rd of June. The ship was freed from her winter prison on the 

 11th of July, but they did not sail till the 22nd. So far as examined, the botanical 

 and zoological collections had yielded no absolutely new varieties, but had taught 

 much about the distribution of plants and animals. Perhaps the most important 

 discovery in that department was that of the musk ox, which animal was found 

 plentifully up to the 77th parallel. With regard to natives, although the whole 

 coast from the 76th parallel to the innermost recesses of Emperor Francis-Joseph's 

 Fiord, in lat. 73 deg., abounded in vestiges of the aboriginal inhabitants, and although 

 Clavering fell in with a party of twelve on the south side of the island which was 

 now known by his name, this expedition never even met with recent traces of 

 their presence. However, they succeeded in finding eleven skulls, and many 

 interesting weapons and utensils. Being again stopped by the ice in 75° 29', it 

 was decided in full conclave to try their fortunes in some of the fiords supposed to 

 exist towards the south. They accordingly proceeded southwards along the coast 

 until they rounded Hudson's Ilold-with-IIope, and proceeded to explore the inte- 

 rior of the supposed Mackenzie Inlet. A single day, however, served to show 



* Note added August 14, 1871. — A letter received from Capt. Koldeway, just after the 

 reading of this paper, enables me to give the following particulars vrhicli have been de- 

 duced from the tidal observations. At Sabine Island the mean range of the tide v.-as 

 3-13 ft., range] of spring-tides 4-21 ft., that of neap-tides being only 1-86 ft. The tidal 

 wave advanced' from the south towards the north at the rate of about 50 to GO miles an 

 hour. 



1871. 12 



