TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 453 



further northwards than is at present supposed, the whole coast line is 3,400 miles, 

 and its area 512,000 square miles, wholly covered with ice, except, perhaps, where 

 some barren highland may penetrate the glacial surface, and constantly engaged in 

 the formation of material for icebergs, which probably take one hundred years to 

 travel from the presumed central water-parting to the heads of the fjords where 

 they fall into the sea, but only at certain points. In one of these ice-fjords the 

 portion of glacier annually pushed in, and representing the annual surplus from an 

 extensive area, has been calculated to constitute a cubical body 900 feet high, two 

 miles long, and two miles broad. 



The investigation of the interior of this country, of especial interest to geo- 

 graphers as one in which the whole system of river drainage is represented by a 

 continuous sheet of ice, has since 1875 been taken in hand to some small extent by 

 the Danish Government, which has in 1876-78 annually voted 550^. for scientific 

 work there, mainly with the object of completing the coast-maps in connection 

 with the geological survey. In the course of these operations explorations were 

 extended over the border of the inland ice. In 1876 the geologist Steenstrup, with 

 Lieutenant Holm and Mr. Kornerup, travelled over the Julianshaab district, 

 between 60° and 61° N. lat. ; in 1877 the investigations were continued by him 

 and Lieutenant Jensen between 61° and 63° N. lat. ; and in 1878 the expedition 

 was divided, Jensen, Kornerup, and Mr. Groth exploring the coast between 62° 30' 

 and 64° 30' N. lat., and Steenstrup, who has not since been heard from, turning to 

 the more northern regions between 70° and 72° N. 



Lieutenant Jensen's party, in July 1878, crossed the inland ice in 62° 30' N., in 

 the endeavour to penetrate as far as possible into the interior. The object was to 

 reach certain iceless mountain-tops, called Nunataks, emerging in the distance from 

 the surface of the glacier, and which more than a century ago had been ascended 

 by a Danish trader. These were reached after a march of more than forty miles in a 

 straight line across the ice. On the lower of these Nunataks the roughness of the 

 surface of the ice was very great, being traversed by yawning chasms divided by steep 

 and slippery elevations, and cut by watercourses disappearing as cascades into the 

 crevasses. The party consisted of four, one of whom was a Greenlander, drawing 

 three small sledges, and generally tied together by a rope. After many perilous 

 adventures they reached the foot of the hills, the view from the summit of which 

 was obscured for a week by snow-storms and mist. On the weather clearing, a 

 successful ascent was made, the elevation being found to be 5,000 feet. The ice 

 waste of the interior was found to rise very slightly inwards, without visible inter- 

 ruption. In the present year Jensen, Kornerup, and Lieutenant Hammer have been 

 sent on a coast survey between 67° and 68° 30' N. lat., of which very little is known. 



4. Indian Marine Surveys. By Clements R. S. Markham, C.B., F.B.S., 



President of the Section. 



The Indian Navy created a splendid staff of surveyors, and many admirable 

 marine surveys were executed by them before the abolition of that useful service 

 in 1862. But from that time, during a period of twelve years, all marine surveys 

 on the coasts of India were absolutely stopped. Meanwhile trade increased, more 

 especially the coasting trade, and new ports were opened to facilitate the export of 

 coffee and other products. While the Government utterly neglected the duty of 

 making the approach to Indian coasts and harbours tolerably safe, the urgent need 

 for correct guides to navigation became each year more and more apparent. 



These facts were earnestly represented to the authorities both at home and in 

 India in 1871 and succeeding years, and at length the creation of a Marine Survey 

 Department was sanctioned, and Commander A. D. Taylor (late of the Indian 

 Navy) was appointed Superintendent. The work was commenced in October, 1875, 

 but no suitable vessels have yet been supplied, and the work has hitherto been done 

 by boat parties. 



Captain Taylor makes annual inspection tours, by which means he has discovered 

 many serious errors in existing charts, and has contributed largely to our knowledge 



