438 Garwood and Gregory — Conway Spitsbergen Expedition. 



beaches containing shells of 3fya truncata and Saxicava arctica, etc., 

 formed terraces along the sides. Above the level of the marine 

 terraces the valley contracted, and was blocked by a bar of moraine 

 hills, 400 feet in height; in the hollows we often came upon bade 

 of fossil ice, which added greatly to the difficulty of the traverse of 

 these very irregular hills. After crossing the moraine, we had to 

 leave the ponies and sledges and cross the glacier to the east coast, 

 which we reached on July 16. We returned to Waterfall Camp 

 by the same route ; thence one of us walked back to Advent Bay 

 overland, and the other along the coast, so that we were able to help 

 in the geological examination of two east and west sections. 



After meeting at Advent Bay we went with Mr. H. E. Conway, 

 the artist of the expedition, to Green Harbour to collect fossil plants 

 from the Tertiary beds there. Unfortunately the layer from which 

 Baron Nordenskiold made the collection in which Heer recognized 

 over a hundred species, has been washed away by the sea. We 

 obtained, however, a series of leaves of dicotyledons and of Poacites, 

 and specimens of Taxodium, Sequoia, etc. Jurassic, Triassic, and 

 Cai'boniferous rocks occur to the west of the Tertiary Plant-bed, and 

 from these we also made collections. 



After a few days' stay at this locality, Sir Martin Conway called 

 for us in the "Expres," a small 18-ton steamer. In this vessel we 

 sailed to the Seven Islands, through Hinlopen Straits, near to Prince 

 Charles' Islands, and to the head of Wiide Bay. An attempt to 

 circumnavigate Spitzbergen was frustrated by a belt of fast ice, which 

 blocked up the passages into Stor Fiord, and formed a barrier across 

 the broad Olga Strait. The excursion, however, gave us an oppor- 

 tunity for studying some fine sections in the Archean series of the 

 Seven Islands, of the Devonian of Wiide Bay, and also of the Car- 

 boniferous and Tertiary rocks of Bel Sund, in which we spent a day 

 during our return voyage. 



One of us (E. J. G.) subsequently had the opportunity during the 

 first ascent of Hornsund Tind, the highest mountain in Spitzbergen, 

 of working out its geological structure. 



It is too early to attempt any summary of the results of this 

 journey, as many of the fossils are yet unpacked, and upon 

 the examination of these the conclusions will depend. Sir Martin 

 Conway made a careful map, on the scale of one inch to the mile, 

 of the belt of country between Advent Bay and Agardh Bay, where 

 we reached the east coast. We collected materials on which to 

 prepare a geological edition of this map. 



The stratigraphical sequence in Spitzbergen is remarkably complete, 

 and its general characters are of great interest. The oldest beds 

 are some schists, cut through and altered by some intrusive gneisses. 

 These occur in the Seven Islands and in the north-west of Spitzbergen. 

 Above these come the quartzites and schists of the Hecla Hook series ; 

 these are no doubt Lower Palaeozoic, but fossils have not yet been 

 found in them. The stratigraphical evidence proves them to be 

 pre-Devonian. The series is named from their occurrence in the 

 headland overlooking the bay in which Parry's ship, the " Hecla," 



