Df.cember 7, 1883. 



6CIBNCE. 



785 



toiidant cutting pains. Fortunately Dr. Berlin soon 

 arrestod this malady, which lias brought so many 

 journeys in the arctic regions to a close, by distribut- 

 ing snow-spectacles, and by inoculating a solution 

 of zinc vitriol in the blood-stained eyes, .\nother 

 malady — if not so dangerous, at all events quite as 

 painful — was caused by the sunshine in the dry, 

 traiiiiparent, aiul thin air on the sliiu of the face. It 

 produced a vivid redness and a perspiration, with 

 large burning blisters, which, shrivelling up, caused 

 the skin of the nose, ears, and cheeks, to fall off in 

 large patches. This was repeated several times, and 

 the pain increased by the effect of the cold morning 



noon of July 13, with a heavy wind from south-east. 

 It continued all the night, aiul the next morning 

 turned into a snow-stoim. We all got very wet, but 

 consoled ourselves with the thought that the storm 

 coining from south-east argued well for an ice-free 

 interior. When it cleared a little, we strained our 

 eyes to trace any mountains which would break the 

 ice-horizon around us, which everywhere was as level 

 as that of the sea. The desire soon 'to be, there' 

 was as fervent as that of the searchers of the Eldo- 

 r.ido of yore; and the sailors and the Lapps had no 

 shadow of doubt as to the existence of an ice-free 

 interior; and at tioon, before reaching camp no. 12, 



lire in (.iret'nUmd's inland 



I l)y No^d^'nHl^io!d < 



«k.-lcli liv I.)!-, lii 



, publishi'd in /m A'ahtr6. 



air on the newly-formed skin. Any similar effect the 

 sun has not in the tropics. With the exception of 

 these complaints, none of us suffered any illness. 



On July 13 we covered thirteen, on the Uth 

 ten, and the l.jth fourteen, kilometres (9th to 12lli 

 camps). At first the road gradually rose; and we 

 then came to a plain, which 1, in error, believed was 

 the crest of the inland ice. The aneroids, however, 

 showed that we were still ascending: thus the 9th 

 camp lies 7.J3, the 10th 877, the 11th 884, and the 

 12th OCT), metres above the sea. Our road was still 

 crossed by swift and strong rivers ; but the ice became 

 more smooth, while the kryokonite c.ivities became 

 more anil more troublesome. This was made more 

 unpleasant by rain, which began to fall on the after- 



cverjbody fancied he could distinguish mountains 

 far away to the east. They appeared to remain 

 perfectly stationary as the clouds drifted past them, 

 — a siite sign, we thought, of its not being a mass of 

 clouds. They were scanned with telescopes, drawn, 

 discussed, and at la.st saluted with a ringing cheer; 

 but we soon came to the conclusion that they were 

 unforlunalely no mountains, but merely the dark 

 reflection of some lakes farther to the e.ist in the ice- 

 desert. 



In my report of the expedition of 1870, I drew at- 

 tention to a clayey mud which is found in circular 

 cavities, from one to three feet in depth, on the sur- 

 face of the inland ice, not only near the shore, but 

 even as far inland as we leached on that occasion. 



