T. F. Jamieson — the Scandinavian Glacier. 389 



the Swiss Alps the smallest meaa inclination is 3° or six times 

 greater. 



Nordenskiold's Expedition, in 1883, in lat. 68°, was alleged to 

 have penetrated 160 miles into the interior of Greenland, at which 

 distance an altitude of 6000 feet was said to have been attained. 

 This would give an average rise of 37|^ feet per mile over the whole 

 distance ; but I suspect these figures cannot be relied upon, because 

 we are told the last 115 miles were done by the Laplanders of the 

 party, whose estimate of the distance seems to have depended on 

 mere conjecture. Nordenskiold himself attained a distance of only 

 62 miles from the outer edge, at which point he made the altitude to 

 be 4500 feet or 72|^ feet per mile. The iDositions of his camp were 

 determined by solar observations, the other distances by pedometers, 

 while the heights seem to have been fixed by the barometer. How 

 the Lapps estimated the height they reached I have been unable to 

 ascertain. 



Dr. Hayes, who believed that he penetrated 70 miles into the 

 interior of Greenland, found that the surface of the ice had a slope 

 at first of about 6°, and then diminished gradually to 2° at the end 

 of the first 30 miles. At 70 miles from the coast he calculated that 

 he had attained an altitude of 5000 feet, which would give about 

 71 feet per mile, and this is almost the same result as that obtained 

 by Nordenskiold himself. Dr. Nansen states that, in 1886, an 

 American, R. E. Peary, travelled 100 miles from the edge of the 

 iceblink, his highest elevation being 7525 feet. This was further 

 north than Nordenskiold's route in 1883, and gives 75 feet per mile, 



Nansen and his party, in 1888, landed on the east coast of 

 Greenland at lat. 61° 30', and then travelled along the coast north- 

 ward to Umiavik, lat. 64° 30'. From this, after penetrating ten 

 miles into the interior, they reached a height of 3000 feet. In lat. 

 64° 50', at 40 miles from the coast, they were at a height of about 

 7000 feet on the 27th of August. By the beginning of September 

 they got to a flat extensive plateau, whose height was 8000 or 9000 

 feet, and which seemed to rise considerably higher to the north. 

 Over this plateau they travelled for more than two weeks, reaching 

 the west coast in lat. 64° 12' on the 26th September. The breadth 

 of Greenland where Nansen crossed it in lat. 64^° does not seem 

 to exceed 340 English miles, which would make the central point 

 170 miles from the coast, and taking the altitude at the centre to be 

 8500 feet, this would give an average slope of just 50 feet per 

 mile. Nansen's results probably afford the best approximation we 

 have yet got, as the fact of his crossing the whole breadth of the 

 land in an ascertained latitude enables us to gauge the extreme 

 distance he penetrated into the interior with some confidence, if 

 our maps are at all correct. Further north the greatest width of 

 Greenland seems to be about 700 miles, which would make the 

 middle point 350 from the coast. A rise of 50 feet per mile on this 

 distance would give 17,500 feet for the altitude of the surface at 

 the centre. 



From all we know of the Greenland ice it would seem that the 



